Item 3A: Approval of City Council Minutes

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and described in detail how the surcharge would generate approximately $900,000 in revenue which would be directed toward the repair, maintenance and preservation of local roadways. Mr. Corey said that the solid waste collection surcharge was one of five strategies recommended to the council and was based on the assumption that the surcharge could not only be implemented relatively quickly but also on the assumption that solid waste collectors represented a unique and significant class of users of the City’s roads. He noted that solid waste vehicles routinely weighed in excess of 30,000 pounds and used virtually every square inch of every City street and alley. Mr. Corey reported that a public hearing to discuss the solid waste collection surcharge had been held on June 8, 2009. Mr. Corey provided a brief summary of the responses to the commonly asked questions raised during that hearing included as Attachment A in the agenda item summary materials. Mr. Corey noted with respect to the public and the council’s concern regarding the potential impact of the solid waste collection surcharge on public school districts in Eugene that the council might consider a motion to explore exemptions to the surcharge which might reduce or eliminate the impact of the surcharge on those school districts. Mr. Corey responded to previous concerns regarding potential rate increases on the surcharge and noted that any such increases were generally the responsibility of the City Manager. Mr. Corey responded to previous concerns regarding administrative burdens placed on solid waste haulers by the surcharge and noted that there appeared to be no reason to believe that the surcharge could not simply be incorpo- rated into the existing administrative structure. Mr. Clark noted that the overall problems addressed by the surcharge would be the significant backlog of deferred roadway maintenance and the ongoing transportation operations/maintenance funding issues. Mr. Clark further commented that the implementation of a new tax such as the surcharge might currently be difficult for citizens to accommodate and that the surcharge might have the unintended consequence of prompting customers to reduce the amount of their garbage which might ultimately lead the collectors to increase their rates in order to guarantee their profits. He believed that the surcharge was “too heavy a solution to this actual problem.” Mr. Clark hoped that the City might continue to explore other funding opportunities such as state funding assistance and the sale of the City’s surplus real property in order to address the roadway maintenance issues faced by the City. Ms. Taylor agreed with Mr. Clark that consumers might attempt to reduce or cancel their garbage collection service as a result of the surcharge and suggested that any funds for roadway improvements come out of the City’s general fund. Ms. Taylor suggested that a City vehicle registration fee would be a much more fair system of generating revenue. Mr. Brown asked what other funding remedies had been explored to address roadway maintenance and other local transportation system issue and further asked how an increase in the state gas tax might be utilized to address local roadway problems. Mr. Corey noted that successful implementation of the provisions of House Bill 2001 might generate as much as $3 million but that any portion of those funds would not be available until late in FY2011. Mr. Corey proceeded to describe several other funding mechanisms associated with HB 2001 that might be used to generate funds for local roadway improvements. Mr. Brown suggested that the City might utilize funds from its facility reserves to cover the operations and maintenance needs for local roadways until state gas tax funds generated by HB 2001 were available. Mr. Corey responded that full implementation of HB 2001 would still not generate enough revenue to cover the MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 10, 2009 Page 5 Work Session