Item 1: Ordinance on Charges for Stormwater and Parks Service

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%XXEGLQIRX% ORDINANCE NO. _____ AN ORDINANCE CONCERNING CHARGES FOR STORMWATER AND PARKS SERVICE AND AMENDING SECTIONS 6.411, 6.416, 6.421, 6.426, 6.431, 6.436, 6.600, AND 6.605 OF THE EUGENE CODE, 1971. The City Council of the City of Eugene finds as follows: A. City parks can provide benefits to the city’s stormwater program in a number of ways. Depending on the location of parkland, those benefits can include flood control, water quality treatment, and streambank stabilization. B. Because of the stormwater benefits that some parks provide, the stormwater program and stormwater monthly fee have funded some of the costs of operating and maintaining the parks that provide those stormwater benefits. The remainder of the costs of operating and maintaining city parks has been provided by the city’s general fund. C. The city has experienced the effects of the steep economic decline that began in 2008. As a result, the city has received less revenue to support community services. In order to balance general fund expenses with revenues, the city council has reduced general fund expenses over the past four years by $24 million. Even with the $24 million reduction, in order to achieve a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year, the city needs to reduce general fund expenses by approximately $6 million. D. The city manager has proposed a Plan of Action to address the general fund shortfall. The plan has four components: (i) grow the property tax base to create jobs and ensure long-term growth in the city’s revenues; (ii) continue to look for ways to lower costs and find efficiencies with minimal impact to services provided to the community; (iii) implement a new city service fee; and (iv) transition funding for parks costs to the stormwater fee. E. Parks and Open Space services have been affected by the budget balancing actions over the past few years, with a portion of that reduction occurring through cuts in the operation and maintenance budget of the parks program. F. One mechanism for reducing some of the general fund expense is to transition the rest of the costs of the city’s parks and open space services out of the general fund. The stormwater fee, which currently funds a portion of the parks budget, can be modified so that it is a fee for all stormwater and parks service. In addition to reducing general fund expense, this action would also stabilize parks funding. G. The city code should be modified to change the stormwater fee to a fee for stormwater and parks service. The stormwater component of the fee should continue to Ordinance - Page 1 of 7