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Mr. Zelenka noted, regarding the waste haulers, that the biggest waste hauling company in the City worked <br />19 hours per day, seven days a week, and caused a lot of damage. He said the garbage haulers were not <br />concerned with the fee as it would be a pass-through. <br /> <br />Ms. Ortiz, seconded by Mr. Pryor, moved to increase the City of Eugene’s motor vehicle <br />fuel tax by three cents per gallon to the eight-cent level to generate an additional $2 million <br />annually. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark moved to amend the motion to send the item back to the committee for adjust- <br />ment. The motion died for lack of a second. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman asked if there would be a public hearing on the gas tax. Mr. Corey replied that a public <br />hearing had been conducted earlier in the year. He said action was currently scheduled for May 29, absent <br />direction to the contrary. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Ms. Bettman, City Attorney Jerry Lidz assured her that the only element of <br />the ordinance that would be changed was the sunset clause, which would be removed, and that the tax would <br />be increased. He stressed that nothing else would be changed. <br /> <br />Ms. Bettman indicated her support for the motion. She felt the fuel tax was a “quintessential carbon tax.” <br /> <br />Mr. Poling preferred to drop the sunset clause for the two-cent increase implemented two years earlier and <br />not to increase the amount of the gas tax above it. <br /> <br />In response to a question from Mr. Poling, Mr. Lidz stated that only the gas tax would be acted upon at the <br />May 29 meeting. <br /> <br />Mr. Poling said he would oppose the gas tax. He indicated that he would move to amend it at that time. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark, seconded by Ms. Solomon, moved to amend the gas tax to change the three-cent <br />increase to a two-cent increase, changing the eight-cent level to seven cents, and that the dif- <br />ference in funding be made up by increasing the capital local option levy. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor opined that this was the price the council would pay for separating the motion. He felt the <br />recommendation of the subcommittee was beginning to fall apart. He said the difficulty that lay in what Mr. <br />Clark was proposing was that by putting it into the bond it would not be an ongoing funding mechanism. He <br />stressed that the package had been a blend of one-time funding sources and ongoing funding sources. <br /> <br />Mr. Clark reiterated his feeling that it would be a gesture of goodwill to take some of the funding from the <br />General Fund. <br /> <br />Mr. Pryor offered a friendly amendment to change the motion so that the difference in fund- <br />ing would be made up with General Fund money. The maker and the second accepted the <br />friendly amendment. <br /> <br />Mr. Zelenka said he had initially preferred to impose a larger gas tax. He could not support decreasing the <br />amount of the gas tax and offsetting this with General Fund money which came from property taxes. He <br />thought the tax would encourage people to get off the streets and “out of their cars.” <br /> <br /> <br />MINUTES—Eugene City Council May 23, 2007 Page 5 <br /> Work Session <br /> <br />