CC Minutes - 06/08/09 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilor Zelenka asked if the change would mean the money would come out of the General Fund. Ms. Wilson replied that it would only come out of the sale of lottery bonds. Councilor Zelenka observed that some lottery dollars were paying for General Fund services, such as schools. He asked if there would be less of this. Ms. Wilson clarified that $50 million would be deposited in the revolving fund and that money would come from the sale of bonds, with lottery money used for the debt service. She said if they could not make $50 million, it would be taken from residual lottery funds that already existed and not out of the General Fund. In response to a follow-up question from Councilor Zelenka, Ms. Wilson listed some of the things that lottery funds paid for, which included parks and some senior services. She added that because it was a revolving fund, once the $50 million was distributed, the fund would continue through the repayment of the funds. Mayor Piercy stated that the issue was that some communities were facing a required expansion of the UGB and it was expensive to put in the infrastructure in this case. Ms. Wilson confirmed that the fund would be available for communities to access if they either chose to or were forced to expand their UGBs. Councilor Clark asked if this would make the funds less secure. It sounded to him like the original version had a more dedicated stream of revenue. Ms. Wilson replied that there was a possibility that the revolving fund might not be totally funded. Councilor Zelenka wondered whether the services that would be paid for would be cut to meet the debt service if the bonds could not be paid for by the lottery funds. Ms. Wilson responded that this could be the case for any bond debt service that could not be paid. She said under this particular bill, people would be required to pay interest which would also help to pay off the debt service. Councilor Zelenka asserted that if they could not come up with the debt service then the programs that lottery funds paid for would be cut. Ms. Wilson replied that she could not say where the money would come from to pay the debt service on any bonds the state was not able to pay. Councilor Brown surmised that the money would go primarily to communities with a potential for UGB expansion such as Eugene, Salem/Keizer, and Portland. Ms. Wilson responded that there were several communities in the Portland area that were either currently or soon to be expanding their UGBs. Councilor Brown asked if the developers would receive the funds. Ms. Wilson responded that it was her understanding that the money would go to the communities so that the expansion could actually occur. Councilor Brown understood that communities would then use the money to pay for infrastructure. Ms. Wilson affirmed that it would pay for sewers or whatever was needed for development to occur. Councilor Poling surmised that the bill would provide no-interest loans and the money would be paid back when communities collected Systems Development Charges (SDCs) from the developers. Ms. Wilson indicated that this was correct. She noted, however, that there were several legislators in the Ways and Means Committee that did not like the idea of making the loans no-interest. MINUTES—Eugene City Council June 8, 2009 Page 4 Regular Meeting