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MINUTES <br />Eugene City Council <br />Harris Hall, 125 East 8 th Avenue <br />Eugene, Oregon 97401 <br />February 11, 2013 <br />5:30 p.m. <br />Councilors Present: George Brown, Betty Taylor, Alan Zelenka, George Poling, Mike Clark, Greg Evans, <br />Claire Syrett, Chris Pryor. <br />Her Honor, Mayor Piercy called the February 11, 2013, work session of the Eugene City Council to order. <br />Mayor Piercy changed the order of the agenda items, moving the local option levy for city services to the first <br />item. <br />A. WORK SESSION: Local Option Levy for City Services <br />City Manager, Jon Ruiz gave a PowerPoint presentation sharing options to address the budget gap. The <br />three options he addressed are: <br />• $6 million levy <br />• $3 million levy <br />• Option for City fee <br />City budget staff will prepare two budgets: one with funding; one without. The budget without funding <br />would require approximately $5 million in service cuts to operate a balanced budget. <br />Comments, concerns and issues shared by the Mayor and council: <br />• Some councilors favored a fee. <br />• Some councilors supported a full levy so there can be a vote. <br />• Support was expressed for preserving human services and public safety funding. <br />• There is concern about consequences if the fee or levy gets voted down. <br />• Financial information about Laurelwood Golf Course was requested. <br />• The fee may be more stable, but also more challenging to sell to voters. <br />• Some expressed an interest in looking at all parks, not just Laurelwood, noting that a complete <br />analysis would be a useful assessment tool. <br />The City Attorney read the elements of a proposed ordinance prepared in anticipation of this item being <br />placed on the ballot. <br />MOTION AND VOTE: Councilor Brown, seconded by Councilor Syrett, moved to direct the <br />City Manager to bring back for final approval a city service fee ballot measure that could be used to <br />close the budget gap and fund fire and police service, homeless and basic human services, and core <br />quality of life services, such as libraries and swimming pools. PASSED: 5:3, Councilors Poling, <br />Clark, and Taylor opposed <br />