CCMinutes - 01/21/04 WS - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Mr. Pap6 commented that his interest in forming an airport district was not so much of a financial concern as it was to recognize that it was in fact a regional facility. In response to a question from Mr. Pap6, Airport Manager Bob Noble stated that approximately 50 percent of the ticketed passengers flying out of the airport were from Eugene zip codes. He noted, in response to a further question, that there were seven community commercial airports in the State of Oregon and two of them were districts. Mr. Meisner asserted it was not the City's sole responsibility to have its taxpayers provide the level of service for noncity residents that the larger district options provided. He encouraged staff to actively work on options that brought the school districts together. In response to questions from Ms. Taylor, Mr. Corey reiterated that the airport cost no money from the General Fund and that the airport staff was paid for by the airport. Ms. Taylor asserted that the airport should have been set up as a regional district when it was developed. She commented that there was nothing to lose. Mr. Corey disagreed. He noted that during the recent snow storm the City had been able to share equipment and personnel resources and this had been a great benefit to the Public Works Department. He said without this, the department would have been capitalizing the services ;;up front." He stated that the Central Service allocation raised the City's ability to provide a general level of service to the greater organization. He opined that an elected board for district operation might not share the City's ideals nor have its best interests at heart. Ms. Taylor asked if the City gained money from the airport. Mr. Noble responded that the airport provided $360,000 per year for its portion of the central services. He asserted that there was economy in having the airport be part of the municipal structure. He stated that there was not a way to create a surplus of revenue from the airport because it would constitute ;;revenue diversion," but there was a way to recapture all of the work created by the airport within the organization. Mr. Taylor said a change in airport governance would cause the City to lose the integration that was possible in terms of overall service with a governing body that does more than a single purpose provider of service. Some opportunity for the public to be involved would be possible through the way the board would operate, but assets that had been developed since 1919 would be ;;handed off" to someone yet unknown. He called attention to the three years of work associated with working with the County to go through the Metro Plan amendments and to raise the question for the voters. He commented that it was difficult to contemplate adding to the workload in this way at a time when the City had ;;ambitious challenges" to undertake. He related that it was difficult for staff to understand what question the airport district would change the answer to and what was being sought by making this change at this time. Ms. Solomon stated that a district would be a separate governing body that would have the authority to tax. She opined that if the current airport governance structure was not broken, it did not need to be fixed. She called attention to the dearth of interest expressed by those who had been sent letters regarding a discussion on airport governance. She recommended the item be taken off the table. MINUTES--Eugene City Council January 21, 2004 Page 2 Work Session