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because of the local economy, the amount of payroll tax revenue had been flat for the past two or three years. She said that LTD's expenses were growing at the rate of four to six percent a year and a number of cost-cutting measures had been imposed, such as laying off some administrative staff and cutting some service routes. She anticipated that over the next three years $1.8 million in service cuts would be achieved. She said the first of those cuts LTD was currently considering represented $500,000 of that amount and the remaining cuts would be dependent on a number of factors, including a mm around in the economy, increased payroll tax revenue, and the results of union contract negotiations. She said another factor in LTD's budget was the need to provide a 20 percent local match from the payroll tax revenue in order to spend federal formula funds on capital projects. Mr. Kleger commented that although LTD was faced with the need to reduce costs, it had held services harmless to date and trimmed costs in all other areas; it was forced to cut services beginning in the fall of 2004 and implement adjustments to group pass fares. He said the dilemma was to cuts costs in ways that had the least impact on the fewest number of people and LTD was holding open houses and public hearings on the proposed cuts to obtain feedback from the public. He encouraged the council to provide input as well. Mr. Kleger offered the council good news about a recent capital expenditure. He reported that that the automatic vehicle location/automatic passenger count radio system appeared to be successful and would provide LTD with accurate information about ridership patterns by geographic location and time of day that was automatically reported by computer to a central location. He said that eventually the system would be able to provide real-time information that customers could access to identify what buses served an area and the arrival times at a specific location. Mr. Gaydos discussed the impact of the Central Area Transportation Study (CATS) on LTD operations. He agreed with Ms. Nathanson's assessment that frequency, timeliness, and running times were major factors in customer satisfaction. He said that when LTD built the central downtown Eugene station, it was depending on 10th Avenue being a one-way street and if that changed it would cause some operational problems. He stated that LTD would serve the federal courthouse once decisions were made about the street design and suggested that courthouse service could be part of the Breeze service package. He said once improvements in the courthouse district were designed and completed LTD would be better able to respond with a service plan. He noted that the Breeze service had been very successful and said that LTD had performed significant due diligence in its effort to obtain a ~green" vehicle, but was struggling to keep the Breeze vehicles on the road. He said that the fare would continue to be 25 cents. Mr. Gaydos concluded by reminding the council that BRT and LTD were part of the community's transit system and it was not a question of LTD versus the City of Eugene or the City of Springfield. He said that LTD was trying to develop the best transportation system possible in partnership with the community. He noted earlier expressions of concern about extended timelines and expenditures and warned that shifting priorities again would cause further extensions and additional expenses. He asked for community support and partnership with LTD to move the transportation system forward. Mr. Kelly said that he would support BRT on Coburg Road if LTD could guarantee an exclusive right-of- way in keeping with the council resolution. Mr. Gaydos replied that LTD would be happy to do that if councilors could convince community members to be supportive. Mr. Kelly complimented LTD on the quality and coverage of daily service. He also noted the important MINUTES--Eugene City Council February 23, 2004 Page 6 Work Session