Item 2C: Ratification of IGR Actions of 09/24/08

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floating in an inner tube. She said Systems Development Charges (SDCs) for public safety would be a “huge multi- session effort.” Mayor Piercy asked if there was interest from any other jurisdiction on that issue. Ms. Wilson replied that there had been in the past, but they realized that it would be a fight against the Home Builders Association (HBA). Ms. Ortiz recalled the house bill that had been presented in the last session that had affected the “face of how we do things.” She asked if Ms. Wilson knew of anything brewing in the jurisdictions around Eugene that would affect the City like the bill regarding Springfield had affected it. She commented that Springfield had brought the bill forward and she had felt surprised by it as she had not known of the bill previous to its introduction. Ms. Wilson replied that Springfield had assured her that another bill like House Bill (HB) 3337 would not come before the Legislature. Mayor Piercy opined that this was the City of Springfield “carrying the HBA’s waters.” She related that Bill Morrisette had told her that Springfield had wanted to separate its Urban Growth Boundary for a long time. She disagreed with the characterization that the bill was a result of Eugene being “difficult to work with.” Ms. Wilson reported that the Cities of Portland and Springfield had tried to remove Eugene from the grandfathering in the LOC Gross Revenue Telecom Tax Bill. She underscored that this would be a $2.4 million reduction in city revenue per year. Mayor Piercy asked why the cities wanted to do that. Ms. Wilson expressed surprise that Springfield had chosen to weigh in on it. She speculated that it was for personal reasons. She explained that they had tried to include a modified grandfather clause that would allow Eugene to collect at the same rate the rest of the State would be able to collect at and then if Eugene wanted to collect at its current rate it could go back out and get the additional amount. She said she had met with Portland staff the previous week and Portland had agreed to drop that issue, but it now looked like the LOC was considering dropping the concept all together. She related that this meant that if the industry proposed a bill that sought to eliminate the tax on wireless services, the City now had no defense strategy. She noted that the defense strategy had been the bill with Eugene grandfathered in, which the CCIGR had been neutral on. She underscored that since the bill was not going to be introduced the City had no defense if industry introduced their own bill. Ms. Ortiz asked what the City needed to do to ensure this did not happen. Ms. Wilson replied that they needed to make sure that all of the cities developed a defense strategy. She reported that she had asked for that and Portland had agreed. She explained that in the previous bill Eugene did not have anything to gain and the rest of the cities had “everything to gain.” Ms. Ortiz asked why the LOC decided not to put the bill forward. Ms. Wilson responded that the LOC did not believe that they could pass the bill without a referral strategy, which was the money to fight a referral. She noted that this would cost approximately $2 million and would be difficult to defend given that the bill would increase people’s cell phone bills. In response to a follow-up question from Ms. Ortiz, Ms. Wilson stated that the City already had moved the bill to a Priority One Support status, but now the City would have to switch its strategy to the defensive to protect what they already had. She noted that the cities that collected the tax included Cottage Grove, Veneta, and Creswell. Mayor Piercy asked why Springfield wanted to get into the bill. Ms. Wilson responded that several committees had been put together to work on the bill, including a legal drafting committee. She said the first draft had come out without Eugene being grandfathered in. She intended to ask the person who had drafted the bill why this was. Mayor Piercy stated that they did not want to be surprised by any legislation. MINUTES—Council Committee on September 24, 2008 Page 2 Intergovernmental Relations