CC Minutes - 06/22/98 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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his perception that the council had fallen into a pattern of budgeting by bits and pieces through contingency. Each request was worthy and made sense and was important to community. However, Mr. Tollenaar preferred to budget on an annual basis, rather than a day-to-day basis. Mr. Laue described the budgeting process for the Human Services Fund. He said that the Interfaith Shelter Program had been in place for ten years and served as a model for the country. Mr. Laue clarified that the funding would be used to carry forward the extended hours previously funded by the council. He felt the expenditure would be appropriate. Regarding the subject of other jurisdictions' contributions, Mr. Laue acknowledged that Lane County and Springfield were not contributing at the same level as Eugene to the Human Services Fund, but he did not think that was a reason to withhold funding. He said that the community need was increasing and the program served as an initial step toward permanent housing. Responding to Mr. Tollenaar's remarks about the need for more systematic budgeting, Mr. Laue said that the manager raised the issue during the last budget cycle but Mr. Laue had preferred to keep it out of the budget and to address it on an ad hoc basis to make the point to the other jurisdictions that Eugene was dealing with the issue and they were not. Ms. Swanson Gribskov asked why the proposal was before the council at this time. She said that she supported the program but questioned what the proposed expenditure represented and the source of funding. Ms. Swanson Gribskov said that the council received no materials regarding the program or associated expenditures to provide it with context. She asked about the impact of not supporting the expenditure. She noted her appreciation for Mr. Meisner's remarks, and suggested that it might be more appropriate to consider the expenditure through the first supplemental budget of 1999. She asked how much the City was contributing to the service now. Mr. Fart said that the expenditure was a recommendation of Council Committee on Homelessness and Youth, made at its last meeting the previous week. He said that if the funding was not approved by July 1, the additional support for the shelter and the coordination for the church parking lots program would be lost. He said that the proposal came to the council at this time because the council had not known until recently the church parking lot program would be continued. Mr. Fart apologized that the committee had not brought the proposal up sooner. Ms. Swanson Gribskov stressed her appreciation for the work being done by the Council Committee on Homelessness and Youth. She asked staff to ensure that information accompany such requests when they come up. She continued to be concerned about the manner in which the proposal was brought up and the precedent the proposal set. Ms. Nathanson asked if there was another way to process the request and still address the need that existed. It was not clear to her what would be lost if the funding was not approved. She did not question the value of the program or the success of its expansion, but she shared Mr. Tollenaar's concerns. Ms. Nathanson said that the City Council had made a decision in the past to refer such funding proposals to the Human Services Commission, which balanced social service needs through its budgeting process. She did not want to see the proposal become the first step in a process where the council directly processed and evaluated competing programs and determined program funding. She expressed hope that the council could find a way to refer the proposal to the process through which all other such requests were handled. MINUTES--Eugene City Council June 22, 1998 Page 7 7:30 p.m.