Item 5: Ordinance Levying Assessments for West University Alleys

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the first and primary beneficiaries of actions that reduce the likelihood of civil unrest taking place in the West University alleys? As a part of the extensive evaluation of the proposed improvements that led to this point of final assessment, the Council several times affirmed its judgment that the primary beneficiaries would be the property owners along the alleys. There were many requests to look at individual cases, and arguments that others might use the alleys more than the property owners making the argument. The City Charter requires that assessment policy be set by a general ordinance. A case-by-case analysis of benefit based on use would not only be impractical, it would be impermissible under the Eugene Charter and Code. The Code assigns costs based on the Council's decision about benefits, which presumably includes easily measurable and less easily measurable benefits. The only discretion left with regard to alley assessments is the determination as to which of several categories any individual property best fits. The major change in the code leading up to the assessment for the alley project was a reduction in the number of categories available. While other allegations were, incorrectly, raised concerning Constitutional violations, a Constitutional violation would be more likely if there were unfettered discretion to consider each property on its own merits, or perceived lack of merit. Beginning with a decision by the Council that the primary beneficiaries of alley improvements are the adjacent property owners, the policy directives lead to this point where the question before the Council is whether the benefits of this improvement are assessable to these property owners under current policy. Because the current policy was set after considerable examination of the conditions and implications of needed improvements in the West University Area, it seems clear that the proposed assessments are a valid implementation of the Eugene Code. Several property owners challenged the methodology of assessing costs. It was suggested that some of the costs should not have been included because they could not be characterized as "actual costs" which are the only types of costs allowed by the Oregon Constitution. The costs challenged included the engineering costs and the administrative costs. Actual costs are costs actually incurred in the process of making the improvement, and that is all that has been included in these proposed assessments. Some questioned the validity of including those engineering costs which occurred before the Council approved the local improvement district. If one examines the totality of the improvement process, one can see that it would be inappropriate to not include these costs. Improvements are constructed mainly by private contractors who bid for the opportunity to do the work. The opening of the bids is the event that initiates the local improvement district, but it is not the first work involved in the project. Before the bidding is possible, design work must be done, so that there is something upon which the bids can be based. The work by the City engineers to prepare the design for the bidding is a necessary and direct expense of the improvement project, because, without this work there would be no improvement project at all. The Eugene Code documents this logic. Section 7.170 of the Eugene Code provides that the includable direct costs extend to engineering costs. The practice of allocating costs to projects LOCAL IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT ASSESSMENTS FOR ALLEY IMPROVEMENTS IN THE WEST UNIVERSITY NEIGHBORHOOD Page 6