CC Minutes - 03/09/09 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Marlene Varady , Crest Drive, Ward 2, Eugene, submitted a petition with 37 signatures requesting the following: assess the entire ward affected by road improvements, allow assessments to be paid when property is sold, make available an interest-free or very low interest loan from the City and provide some type of tax advantage or lower property taxes on assessed homes to help defer the costs. She had talked to many neighbors and one family was faced with foreclosure while other faced considerable financial hardships. She said there was a range of incomes in the neighborhood. Declining property values and lack of financing made it extremely difficult for people to sell homes. Kim Heddinger , Crest Drive, Ward 2, Eugene, stated that she owned two lots and would be assessed $38,000, which was not affordable. She objected to Mr. Collins’ characterization of neighbors as a “triad” and noted that the neighborhood was diverse. She said the roads had been in poor condition for many decades and the improvements would not increase property values. She said it would be difficult to finance the assessments in the current credit climate. She encouraged the City to research how other municipalities handled street improvement assessments. Marilyn Mohr , River Road neighborhood, said her neighbors recognized the inequitability of the current system of assessment for street improvements. She encouraged the council to find more equitable methods for financing street improvements as it affected property owners across the city. Jan Fillinger , Crest Drive, Ward 2, Eugene, encouraged the council to modify the code to provide a fairer assessment method for street improvements and supported a moratorium on street improvements if that was necessary in order to establish a more equitable approach. He said many people, particularly the elderly, had fixed, low or no income and needed other options for paying assessments, such as when property was sold. He urged the council to delay the project and modify the code. Joan Kelly , Elmira Road, Eugene, commented that it was not that easy to obtain the necessary number of property owners to oppose a project as it was not simply 50 percent plus one; it was based on the assessable linear footage. She said a large number of rentals, and footage that was not directly in front of a residence, further complicated the matter. She was supportive of options such as paying an assessment at the time a property was sold. She was distressed that it appeared easier to assess residents for the cost of street improvements than to deal with the federal regulations involved in using stimulus funds. She noted inconsistencies in subsidy income information on different forms that had not yet been corrected. Bill Eddie , Crest Drive, Ward 2, Eugene, thanked the council for its thoughtful discussion of assessment issues. He said it was a good time to find a more equitable solution to paying for street improvements by sharing the financial burden among more users of the roads. He preferred postponing the project until next summer while a better assessment policy was developed. He said the assessment would currently affect about 120 tax lots; spreading it to Ward 2 would involve about 8,000 properties at an estimated $250 each. He said assessing every lot in the City would cost each home owner about $40 and make each street belong to all residents. He urged the council to change the code and make street assessments fair to all concerned. Randy Prince , Eugene, expressed disappointment over what he perceived as downgrading the police auditor’s position by eliminating the requirement that the auditor be an attorney. He felt the council’s discussion of supervision of the auditor sounded like micromanagement of a position that did not need any more feedback than the City Manager. He said the auditor was supposed to be independent and many of the issues that had currently been raised, such as concurrent investigations, would be much more difficult to resolve if the auditor was not as qualified as an attorney. He advocated for Interim Police Auditor Dawn MINUTES—Eugene City Council March 9, 2009 Page 2