CC Minutes - 12/07/09 Joint Elected Officials

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underscored his feeling that the public would accept consolidation but would not accept “paying twice” for services. Councilor Ralston said the intent was not to double charge, but to find out what the funding shortcoming was and to figure out a fair taxing system spread out over Lane County, if that was the model they ended up using. He believed that to do so could free up general fund money to be spent on something else. He pointed out that if everyone in Lane County subscribed to Fire Med, the problem would be solved. Councilor Ortiz wanted to ensure that the Joint Elected Officials (JEO) accomplished what they set out to accomplish. She wanted to move on the fourth and sixth recommendations, which sought to enhance and expand the marketing of Fire Med subscriptions and to move work forward as rapidly as possible regarding provision of a regional mobile health care system with a report to elected officials by the end of 2010 respectively. She thought the seventh recommendation could move forward with the suggested language change and including that they would use the United Front lobbying effort to convey their message. Regarding the first recommendation, she had already made a motion in the City of Eugene to look at how general fund dollars could be accessed and used in the short-term. She said the City of Eugene would need to have a work session to discuss the fifth recommendation, which sought to have the City of Eugene and Lane Rural analyze the possibility of reconfiguring the boundaries of the county’s Ambulance Service Areas (ASA), because a change in the ASAs would have financial impacts on the City. Eugene Councilor Poling thanked Councilor Ortiz for taking the lead on the work and said she had done “an incredible job.” He agreed that the seventh recommendation could be reworded to assign it to the United Front to “educate and lobby” on the issue. The only recommendation that gave him pause was the third one, in regard to finding more sustainable funding sources. He recalled the time he had worked for Lane County, during which only one of numerous serial levies that had been put forward had passed. He related that the levy had passed to augment funding to law enforcement, but the Board of Commissioners had taken the exact amount of the money passed in the levy out of the funding for law enforcement and placed it elsewhere. He advised the elected officials to be careful when putting forward serial levies or special districts; they should be researched thoroughly. He supported Councilor Ortiz’s recommendations on all seven items before them. Commissioner Stewart thanked everyone for their hard work. He observed that though Fire Med was only $52 per year, it could be considered expensive by some people. He wondered if there would be a way to set up payments. He also wondered if one area they could lobby for would be for Medicare to pay the Fire Med costs. Commissioner Stewart asked Mr. King if something could be done to reduce the 15-percent cost increase. Mr. King replied that the increase was primarily attributable to personnel costs. He said firefighters wanted Cost of Living Adjustments (COLAs) and health care costs had increased dramatically. He added that a 15- percent increase from year to year had become the norm. Chief Groves stated that Eugene firefighters were not receiving COLA’s anywhere near 15-percent. He also said they were experiencing an increase in uninsured people who were unable to pay their bills due to the economic downturn which was attributed to the revenue decline along with reductions in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements. Commissioner Stewart commented that it might be easier to pay $10 per month. MINUTES—Joint Elected Officials—Lane County, Springfield, December 7, 2009 Page 4 & Eugene