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it would be rejected by the citizens. She supported a local gasoline tax, particularly if Springfield <br />was involved. She did not perceive the County as being totally opposed to a countywide gasoline <br />tax, which she thought would be the ideal solution. She asked if a vehicle registration fee could <br />be imposed by the City. Mr. Carlson said that it could be imposed only by the County. Ms. Taylor <br />thought a vehicle registration fee a more appropriate approach to the funding issue than the <br />household approach. <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey wanted the Budget Committee to consider the issues involved. He said that if the <br />two cities attempted to pass a gasoline tax at the same time, what happened if one failed and the <br />other passed? He acknowledged that he was not ready at this point to support either a TUF or a <br />local gasoline tax. His primary concern was the fact that County residents put a substantial <br />amount of traffic on Eugene streets but the City does not get much from the County in road funds. <br />He thought it necessary for the local jurisdictions to recognize "we're all in this together." <br /> <br />Mayor Torrey said he would endorse an approach that allowed the voters to vote on the issue <br />rather than have it referred by initiative. He wanted to know at some point which top five projects <br />the City would fund if the money was available. He requested a report on the process the City of <br />Portland went through in establishing its TUF. <br /> <br />Ms. Mulder said the subcommittee considered the TUF to have an advantage over property taxes <br />in that it got at the use of roads by nonprofit and government agencies that were exempt from <br />paying property taxes. She noted that no other city in Oregon with a TUF went to the citizens <br />before instituting the TUF. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked staff to prepare information regarding whether the gasoline tax was <br />progressive with regard to the use of the roads. For example, do heavy trucks pay relatively more <br />in taxes than fuel-efficient automobiles? She requested information with regard to a gas tax about <br />the correlation between use of the roads, ability to pay, and impact on the roads. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson thought the independent analysis requested by the subcommittee was not only <br />essential for public education but essential for public acceptance of any TUF or gasoline tax <br />proposal. She thought the failure of past tax measures could be attributed to a lack of trust that all <br />that could have been done was done to address the situation at hand. <br /> <br />Regarding the possibility of precluding funding for future capacity enhancements, she wanted to <br />know if funding for essential projects, such as those on Elmira Road and Warren Street, would be <br />affected by such an approach. <br /> <br />Ms. Nathanson asked about the potential of a joint meeting with the Springfield City Council. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman said that the subcommittee's report did not address OM&P for a future system, only <br />the current system, and she wanted to see a projection of those costs using existing data over a <br />certain period of time or the life of a project. She wanted to see what the City was committing to <br />in terms of future OM&P needs when a new road is built. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman requested an analysis of the revenues that would be realized by a TUF on <br />businesses similar to the one prepared for residences. She suggested staff split the analysis <br />between businesses with 50 employees or less and businesses with more than 50 employees. <br /> <br /> MINUTE--Eugene City Council July 11, 2001 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br /> <br />