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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem A: Resolution on Gas Tax to Ballot ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Action: Resolution Calling a City Election on May 20, 2008, for the Purpose of Referring to the Electors of the City of Eugene Ordinance No. 20401 Amending Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337, to Extend the Sunset of $0.02 Per Gallon of the Motor Vehicle Fuel Dealer’s Business License Tax Until February 28, 2011; and Approval of Production of Voters’ Pamphlet and Appointment of Members to Voters’ Pamphlet Proponent Committee for the Referred Ballot Measure on Ordinance No. 20401 Meeting Date: March 10, 2008 Agenda Item Number: A Department: City Attorney/City Manager’s Office Staff Contacts: Jerry Lidz/ Mary Feldman www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Numbers: 682-5080/682-8353 ISSUE STATEMENT The attached resolution provides that if the requisite number of valid signatures were filed on February 27, 2008, then the election on the gas tax sunset would occur at the May 2008 election rather than the September 2008 election. The second part of this item is to be considered only if the council adopts the proposed resolution calling a May 2008 election. If that resolution is approved, the council is asked to approve a motion directing the City Manager to publish a voters’ pamphlet for the May 20, 2008, Primary Election. In a second motion, the council is also asked to appoint up to three members to the Voters’ Pamphlet Proponent Committee for the ballot measure on Ordinance No. 20401. BACKGROUND Resolution Calling a May Election On January 28, 2008, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 20401, which amended Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337 to extend the sunset of $0.02 per gallon of the City’s motor vehicle fuel dealer’s business license tax, maintaining the tax at its current rate of $0.05 per gallon until February 28, 2011. On February 27, 2008, referendum petitioners submitted over 11,000 signatures to the City Recorder. At this time, the number of valid signatures is not known, and consequently, it is not known whether the ordinance was successfully referred. If that information is known by the March 10 council meeting, that information will be provided to the council. (The County Elections Division has until Thursday, March 13 to complete its verification process, although it may be able to complete it sooner.) Eugene City Code section 2.981(2)(b) provides that an election on a referendum measure shall be held on the next available election date under State law that is more than 90 days after the F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080310\S080310A.DOC date the City Recorder certifies the referendum petition, unless the City Council calls an earlier election. In no event may the council call an election on a referendum measure for a date sooner than 66 days from the date the City Recorder certifies the referendum petition. Therefore, if the council wants to send the gas tax sunset referendum to the voters at the May election, the council needs to act before March 15, 2008. The election on the gas tax sunset will take place in September unless the council calls an earlier election. A May Presidential Primary Election is likely to have higher voter turnout than a September Special Election. The cost of a special election in September would be the sole responsibility of the participating jurisdiction, which could be Eugene alone. If that were the case, Eugene’s cost is estimated to be approximately $150,000. The council may also choose to vote to urge adoption of the referred measure, order submission of an alternative measure to be voted on at the same election as the referred measure, or simply repeal Ordinance 20401. The council may vote to urge adoption of Ordinance 20401 at any time between now and the election. If the council chooses to order submission of an alternative measure or measures to be voted on at the same election as the gas tax sunset, that election must take place in September, as there is not enough time at this point to allow for a ballot title appeal before the City Recorder must submit the council-referred measure or measures to Lane County Elections for inclusion on the ballot for the May election. If the election is not held until September, the council may act at any time between now and mid-July to repeal Ordinance 20401. Upon repeal of Ordinance 20401, $0.02 of the motor vehicle fuel dealers tax will sunset, leaving the City gas tax at $0.03 per gallon. Motion to authorize production of a voters’ pamphlet For elections at which City of Eugene measures are placed before the voters, the City has customarily prepared and mailed voters’ pamphlets to all residential addresses within the city. Voters’ pamphlets include the caption, question, and summary of each City ballot measure (including EWEB measures), the resolution referring the measure to the voters, and arguments and rebuttals from proponent and opponent committees for each measure. Additional arguments in favor or opposing the ballot measures are included when submitted by petition or paid for by individuals or groups. The pamphlet also may contain paid statements from the City Council, EWEB, School Districts 4J and 52 candidates, as well as ballot measure information for EWEB or school district measures. General information about the election process and how electors may complete it is also part of the pamphlet. Costs for the voters’ pamphlet vary depending on the number of pages required, which is dictated by the number of measures being considered and the number of arguments and candidate statements submitted; and on postage costs, which are dictated by current rates and the number of addresses in the data base. Costs for publishing the November 2007 pamphlet, which included two City of Eugene ballot measures, were approximately $21,000. Costs include advertising for members of the voters’ pamphlet opponent committees and solicitation of additional arguments. While only one ballot measure would be included in the May 2008 pamphlet, pages would also be required for candidates who may wish to participate. There are expected to be additional costs because there is likely to be a higher number of households receiving the pamphlet, and printing and advertising costs continue to increase. F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080310\S080310A.DOC If a voters’ pamphlet is to be produced, the council must take action at this time. Presently, the deadline for all voters’ pamphlet arguments is 54 days prior to the election, which is March 27. Motion to appoint members of a proponent committee Eugene Code 2.994(1)(b) requires content of the voters’ pamphlet to include one argument in favor of each measure followed by a rebuttal to the argument and one argument in opposition to the measure followed by a rebuttal to that argument. For citizen-referred measures, the written argument in favor and the rebuttal to the opposition argument are to be submitted by one or more of the City Councilors who voted in favor of the ordinance referred. (EC 2.996(1)(c). The argument in opposition to the measure and the rebuttal to the argument in support are to be written by one or more of the chief petitioners of the referral petition, so long as they certify that they are bona fide opponents of the ordinance. If the chief petitioners are not bona fide opponents, the argument in opposition and the rebuttal to the argument in support shall be submitted by a three-person committee chosen by the City Recorder by lot from among applications that have been received in accordance with code requirements. RELATED CITY POLICIES The net proceeds of this motor vehicle fuel dealer’s business license tax are used only for the reconstruction, repair, maintenance, operation and preservation of roads and streets within the City that either the City owns or it is contractually or legally obligated to operate and maintain. Eugene Code 2.993(2) requires that: “The City Manager shall publish and distribute a local voter’s pamphlet for each election in which a City measure is on the ballot unless: (a) The City measure is placed on the ballot by petition or council action occurring less than 55 days before the election date; or (b) The council determines that the environmental, economic and social impacts of adoption of the City measure are not substantial enough to warrant the expense for preparation and distribution of a voter’s pamphlet.” Eugene Code 2.994 and 2.996 set forth the requirements for the arguments contained in the voters’ pamphlet. COUNCIL OPTIONS The City Council may: 1. Repeal Ordinance 20401 altogether; or 2. Adopt the proposed resolution and send the measure to the May ballot (assuming that the th requisite number of valid signatures were submitted on February 27); or 3. Take no action, in which case the election on the measure, assuming there are sufficient petition signatures will be held September 16, at an estimated additional cost to the City of $150,000. 4. If the council decides to let the measure go to a September election, the council may also refer a competing measure to the September ballot. F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080310\S080310A.DOC If the City Council adopts the resolution referring the measure to the May ballot, it may then: 1. Approve the motion to publish a voters’ pamphlet; or 2. Make a determination that the impact of adoption or rejection of the ballot measure on Ordinance No. 20401 is insufficient to warrant the expense of publishing a voters’ pamphlet and direct that one not be prepared. Should the council opt to publish a voters’ pamphlet, it must: 1.Appoint as few as one and as many as three councilors to prepare the proponent argument and rebuttal to the opposing argument for the ballot measure on Ordinance No. 20401. 2. Depending on whether one, two, or three councilors wish to serve on the proponent committee, the council may appoint additional citizen members to the committee in order to create a three-person committee. CITY MANAGER’S RECOMMENDATION The City Manager recommends Option 2: adoption of the proposed resolution, providing for a May election, rather than a September election, in the event the requisite number of valid signatures was submitted. The City Manager recommends that the City publish a voters’ pamphlet for the May 2008 election. SUGGESTED MOTIONS Move to adopt Resolution No. _____ calling a City election on May 20, 2008, for the purpose of referring to the electors of the City of Eugene Ordinance No. 20401. Move to direct the preparation and distribution of a voters’ pamphlet for the May 20, 2008, Primary Election and authorize the expenditure of up to $25,000 for the voters’ pamphlet. Mote to appoint ____________________, ____________________, and ____________________ to the Voters’ Pamphlet Proponent Committee for the ballot measure on Ordinance No. 20401. ATTACHMENTS A. Proposed Resolution No. _______ FOR MORE INFORMATION Staff Contact: Jerry Lidz Telephone: 682-5080 Staff E-Mail: jerome.lidz@harrang.com Staff Contact: Mary Feldman, City Recorder Telephone: 541-682-8353 Staff E-Mail: mary.h.feldman@ci.eugene.or.us F:\CMO\2008 Council Agendas\M080310\S080310A.DOC ATTACHMENT A RESOLUTION NO. __________ A RESOLUTION CALLING A CITY ELECTION ON MAY 20, 2008, FOR THE PURPOSE OF REFERRING TO THE LEGAL ELECTORS OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, IF THE REQUISITE SIGNATURES WERE OBTAINED ON THE REFERENDUM PETITION, ORDINANCE NO. 20401 AMENDING SECTION 3 OF ORDINANCE NO. 20337, TO EXTEND THE SUNSET OF $0.02 PER GALLON OF THE MOTOR VEHICLE FUEL DEALER’S BUSINESS LICENSE TAX UNTIL FEBRUARY 28, 2011. The City Council of the City of Eugene finds as follows: A. Based on a recommendation from the Citizens’ Subcommittee on Transportation System Funding, the City enacted its first motor vehicle fuel tax at three cents per gallon in January 2003 and began collecting the tax in August 2003, which has generated approximately $2 million per year from that original three-cent tax. The Committee recommended a combination of the motor vehicle fuel tax and a transportation system maintenance fee in order to generate approximately $9 million annually to address the City’s critical transportation system funding needs. Although the transportation system maintenance fee, designed to generate $6.5 to $7 million annually, was adopted, it was repealed before it could be fully implemented. B. In January 2005, the City Council enacted Ordinance No. 20337 approving a two- cent increase to the motor vehicle fuel tax from three to five cents per gallon. Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337 contained a sunset provision with respect to the two-cent increase which would cause the tax to revert to three cents per gallon on February 29, 2008. C. In adopting the sunset provision, the City Council anticipated that three years would allow sufficient time to complete a comprehensive review of available funding options and to develop a stable funding strategy to meet the City’s transportation system needs D. Although nearly $14 million of street preservation work has been completed utilizing the revenue generated by the motor vehicle fuel tax, the backlog of needed repair work continues to grow. By early 2007 the estimated cost of that backlog of repairs had grown to nearly $170 million, and without new funding, was projected to grow to more than $280 million within the next 10 years. E. In early 2007 a Council subcommittee studied the City’s transportation funding needs and options and submitted a report in May 2007 with recommendations to increase the local motor vehicle fuel tax by three cents per gallon (generating an additional $2 million annually) to eights cents per gallon and to repeal the sunset provision. This increase in the fuel tax rate, together with the other revenue options in the funding package recommended by the subcommittee, was projected to generate nearly $16 million per year to address the projected operating deficits in the Road Fund operations and maintenance activities and to provide funding for the $170 million backlog of unfunded street repair projects. F. On May 29, 2007, the City Council approved Ordinance No. 20384, which increased the motor vehicle fuel dealer’s license tax by three cents per gallon and repealed the sunset provision contained in Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337. This ordinance was subject to a referendum petition, and the Council subsequently repealed Ordinance No. 20384. In lieu of that ordinance, the Council submitted to the electors of the City a measure to increase the motor vehicle fuel dealer’s business license tax by three cents per gallon. G. At the election held on November 6, 2007, the electors of the City rejected the measure to increase the motor vehicle fuel dealer’s business license tax by three cents per gallon. H. On January 28, 2008, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 20401, which extends by three years the sunset provision in Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337, so that the motor vehicle fuel dealer’s business license tax as set forth in Section 3.467(b) of the Eugene Code, 1971 would remain at five cents per gallon until February 28, 2011. I. On February 27, 2008, referendum petitioners submitted over 11,000 signatures to the City Recorder. The City Recorder has forwarded the signatures to Lane County Elections to determine whether the requisite number of valid signatures was submitted in order to refer Ordinance No. 20401 to the electors. J. If Lane County certifies that the requisite number of valid signatures was submitted, then an election on Ordinance No. 20401 would be held at the September 2008 election unless the City Council refers the Ordinance to an earlier election. The City Council finds it would be in the public interest to have the vote occur in May 2008, rather than September, 2008. NOW, THEREFORE, based upon the above findings, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EUGENE, a Municipal Corporation of the State of Oregon, as follows: Section 1. If the requisite number of valid signatures referenced in the above findings were submitted, then a city election is called for the purpose of referring to the legal electors of the City of Eugene Ordinance No. 20401 amending section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337, to read as follows: “Section 3 of Ordinance No. 20337 (the sunset provision) adopted by the City Council on January 24, 2005, is hereby amended to read: “Unless otherwise extended by the City Council, the amendment to Subsection (b) of Section 3.467 shall sunset on February 28, 2011, and the tax will revert to three cents per gallon.” “A copy of this Ordinance shall be appended to Ordinance No. 20337.” Section 2. The City Council orders the city election referred to in section 1 to be held in the City of Eugene, Oregon, concurrently with the statewide election on May 20, 2008, in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 254 of the Oregon Revised Statutes, and the ballots shall be counted and tabulated and the results certified as provided by law. Section 3. The City Recorder is directed to give not less than ten days’ notice of any such city election by publication of one notice in the Register Guard, a newspaper published in the City and of general circulation within the City. Section 4. This Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its adoption. th The foregoing Resolution adopted the 10 day of March, 2008. __________________________________________ City Recorder