Item B: Approval of Legislative Policies Document

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City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2009 Oregon Legislative Session C. OTHER LOCAL BUDGET CONCERNS C1. State Shared Revenue ?Eugene supports increasing the amount of state shared revenues sent to local governments and opposes any action that would reduce current funding levels. ?Eugene opposes any action by the State to direct or restrict the use of state shared revenue by cities. In FY09, the City expects to receive $3.4 million each fiscal year in state shared revenue from cigarette, beer and wine and liquor sales. This money is placed in the City's General Fund and helps the City provide a full range of essential urban services, including police services and fire protection. C2. Ability to Charge for State-Mandated Services ?Eugene supports the ability to recover the full cost of providing a service when performing mandated activities on behalf of the State. The State may have an interest in setting guidelines for the fees charged by local government, but cities should be able to request fee increases when their documented costs exceed State recommendations. C3. Disbursement of State Fines and Fees ?Eugene supports any effort to allow cities and the State to equitably distribute any monies collected, so that the burden of uncollected monies is shared by both. C4. Ability to Recoup Costs of State Collections ?Eugene supports any effort to allow cities, when a city acts as a collection agent for the State, to retain its legitimate overhead costs before forwarding funds to the State consistent with City collections of County court assessments. C5. Fee for Services to Tax-Exempt Organizations ?Eugene supports any effort to allow cities to collect payments in lieu of property taxes for municipal services provided to tax-exempt organizations. 8