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and not operate in a vacuum. He pointed out that the City of Eugene had safeguards with respect to the environment and its quality of life. Mayor Piercy acknowledged that Lane County Commissioners Bobby Green and Faye Stewart were in attendance. th Bob Cassidy , 1401 East 27 Avenue, commented that on its surface, the enterprise zone seemed like a “win-win situation” because its basic purpose was to create jobs and promote growth, thereby increasing revenues for the City. He asked, then, why it had not worked. He felt such zones forced growth and caused more expenses than revenue or that the benefits were going elsewhere. He averred that jobs provided in Eugene often were taken by people who live in outlying communities. He alleged that half of the citizens in Springfield and 72 percent of the population of Veneta worked in Eugene. He opined that the County should help pick up the tab for “forced growth” in the city of Eugene. He recognized that the County did not have an excess of funds, though it would be more possible if a new public safety district was approved. He remarked that after all the years of growth, the city of Eugene could not afford to maintain its streets, among other things. He said the enterprise zone was not a “win-win for everybody.” th Don Kleinsmith , 940 West 18 Avenue, said he was tired of picking up the tab for an enterprise zone and urged the council not to support it. He observed that the zone required a wage of $9 per hour and this was less than what he was making on the day he retired 18 years earlier. He felt the enterprise zone was “giving things away” when the City could not afford to adequately fund its police and fire departments. He asserted that the City should not give tax breaks to businesses. He said the City had given “thousands in tax breaks to Jean Tate - to create what?” He added that when he moved to Eugene it had a population of 14,000 and was a nice little city. Ladonna Carlisle , 120 North Seneca Street, assistant to the president of Glorybee Foods, stated that the company started in 1975 out of a garage at a residence on River Road and had grown to a company that employed 90 people. She said the growth was directly attributable to outside financial help as the company never had sufficient capital to “grow the business.” She recalled that the company borrowed the down payment for its property from a business associate in 1987 and was then able to expand three different times through loans from the bank as well as the tax-exempt status provided by the enterprise zone. She averred that the tax exemption facilitated the reduction of capital needed to continue to grow the business. She stressed that verification of the company’s success was on record as the enterprise zone required regular reporting. She reiterated that the tax exempt investment benefit was a major component of the enterprise zone proposal and would factor into a decision to be made by her company on its next building site. She underscored that the business would prefer to remain in Eugene. She related that Glorybee Foods intended to build a $6 million dollar plant and anticipated a 20-percent increase in the number of employees. She believed that sustainable economic incentives brought about by an enterprise zone would provide improved wage and benefit standards to the community and could support business prosperity while protecting the environment. She reiterated that the renewal of the zone would be of great assistance in the projected expansion of Glorybee Foods. Mike Clark , Cheryl Street, thanked the Mayor and councilors for their service. Mr. Clark observed that a significant portion of the reserve-for-revenue shortfall had been used in the last budget cycle in order to get the budget to balance. He said the six-year financial forecast indicated the reserve-for-revenue shortfall would be depleted in two to three years. He was concerned that sending a de MINUTES—Eugene City Council July 18, 2005 Page 2 Regular Session