Laserfiche WebLink
Responding to a question from Ms. Nathanson, Mr. Johnson anticipated a cross- <br />department team would look at the issue of developing a system wide complaint <br />information management system, not just the City's Public Service Officer. Mr. Meisner <br />encouraged staff to ensure that there was single entry point for all complaints, even <br />though they may cross departments. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner encouraged staff to examine Springfield's telephone government pages as <br />an example of a user-friendly telephone listing. <br /> <br />Mr. Lee maintained that the City lacked a long-range financial plan to deal with future <br />funding gaps and asked Administrative Services Department Director Warren Wong <br />what steps the council needed to take now to address the long-term funding gap. Mr. <br />Wong reminded the City Council that it had reviewed the six-year financial forecast in <br />November 1999, and at that time he had stated that the long-term picture was heavily <br />dependent on economic health and growth. The City had received the assessed value <br />exceptions value information from the County, which had added about $400,000 to <br />property tax collections. He said that nothing had changed; at some point the General <br />Fund would be insufficient. As staff reviewed the budget, it identified several big ticket <br />items for which there was no funding and had discussed alternative funding sources, <br />such as a transportation utility fee. Mr. Wong said that the council will have to take <br />some sort of structural action, perhaps with the assistance of a council committee. Mr. <br />Johnson said that another issue was how to fund road maintenance in the future, given <br />the uncertain future of the gas tax increase and Lane County's continued threats to <br />stop its gas tax contributions to Lane County cities. <br /> <br />Mr. Kelly emphasized the council's full work plan and suggested that the council make <br />the subject of long-term financial stability a major work plan item in the fall. He added <br />that he did not want to use a committee approach to the topic. Ms. Taylor agreed. She <br />said that the City should look at other taxing sources. <br /> <br />Ms. Taylor said that she thought the council had eliminated any further discussion of a <br />transportation utility fee. Mr. Johnson said that he had not received direction from the <br />council that the staff should not examine the possibility. Rather, he had heard the <br />council express concerns about the approach and suggest that staff attempt to better <br />the concept. He asked the council for direction. Mr. Meisner said that he did not recall <br />the council placing a permanent bar on discussion of the option. <br /> <br />Mr. Meisner also shared Mr. Lee's concern about the long-range financial picture and <br />said he also did not want to use a committee approach toward the topic. He <br />emphasized an interest in long-term solutions that could potentially replace the <br />property tax. <br /> <br />MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 26, 2000 Page 10 <br /> <br /> <br />