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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/02/1987 Meeting M I NUT E S e Eugene City Council Dinner/Work Session Jacobs Room--Hult Center for the Performing Arts November 2, 1987 4 p.m. COUNCILORS PRESENT: Debra Ehrman, Emily Schue, Cynthia Wooten, Ruth Bascom, Roger Rutan (5 p.m.-9:40 p.m,), Jeff Miller, Rob Bennett. COUNCILORS ABSENT: Freeman Holmer. BUDGET COMMITTEE: Joan Rich, Kappy Eaton, Don McCloud, R. Kim Short, Arden Munkres, John Rodda, Kay Robinhold. His Honor Mayor Brian B. Obie called the work session to order. I. GENERAL FUND SERVICE/FINANCIAL PLANNING A. Ranking Process City Manager Micheal Gleason discussed the process to be used during the evening. He said the process is the result of a request from the councilors e for a new way to address the fiscal stability of the City. Councilor Miller, Budget Committee member Kim Short, Mayor Obie, and the staff devised the process to rank the service priorities of the councilors. Mr. Gleason said the process will be an experiment this evening, After balloting, the counci lors wi 11 have an opportunity to di scuss their priorities and the process, Councilors will repeat the process on November 30 and the staff will use those results in developing a strategic financial plan. Mr. Gleason said the categories presented to the councilors this evening provide an opportunity for order-of-magnitude comparisons. He said central overhead costs are a separate category and do not always change in the same degree that programs change. Finance Director Warren Wong distributed copies of a packet with several ballots in it. He said each councilor will rank the City's services and new revenue sources on the ballots. The ballots will then be scored by the staff and reported to the councilors for discussion. He reviewed the council's Financial Management Policies, He also discussed the municipal service system. He emphasized that City services are related and an increase or decrease in a service sometimes affects other services. 'Mr. Wong said the list of City services on which the councilors will vote totals about $38 million and the list of resources totals about $50 million. Central overhead is about $6.5 million. Some of the services and resources on the ballots are new. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 1 -- Answering questions, Mr, Wong discussed special utility districts. He said a special bill would be sent to residents to support specific services. At thi s e time, the City does not have a general billing system. EWEB has a general billing system. Estimates for special districts for park and recreation maintenance do not include the Hult Center. The estimates are for maintenance of the present parks, community centers, and pools. The cost for a special district could be for each resident, The current fees might continue or be eliminated. He said charges in a traffic signal utility district could be based on each residence and equivalent residential units for commercial and industrial properties, Replyi ng to other questions, Mr, Wong said some capital projects in the downtown area could be paid with Tax Allocation funds. Probably none of the current Genera 1 Fund downtown operating expenses could be paid with Tax Allocation funds. The Tax Allocation funds total about $1.9 million annually and about $1.4 million is needed for debt service on the Conference Center and parking structure. The balance is used for programs such as the awning program, Answering questions, Mr, Wong said the counci 1 has been increasing the beginning working capital about $200,000 a year and it now totals about $6,8 million. He said the City would have to borrow funds to meet operating expenses for about five months before property taxes are received if it did not have working capital. Mr. Gleason said a low ranking from the ballots for "Beginning Working Capital" would mean that the councilors want to discuss it, Ms, Wooten said the working capital helps to maintain the City's bond rating. She said it has not been proved that the City needs the $6.8 million to meet e obligations before property taxes are received. B. Service System Discussing the system of City Services, Mr, Wong said the system is based on such things as population, condition of streets and sewers, and demand. He said City services increased in the last ten years. There were 751 full-time employees in 1976 and there are 776 in 1987. The City provides fairly good levels of service now but levels were decreased in 1983, working capital was spent, and employees were laid off because of the recession, Si nce then, the working capital has been increased, resources have been re-allocated, and some services have been increased. Efficiency has been increased by automation. Mr. Wong said the City organization and financial system are sound and productive. However, the six-year forecast indicates that deficits will occur. He said there are demands for additional services, State and Federal taxes seem to have stabilized, Some user fees might be increased but high fees are counter-productive. Several councilors and the Mayor discussed possible causes of the deficit. Answering questions, Mr. Wong said the tax base may increase six percent annually and the City realizes about a 5.2 percent increase. Property taxes provide about half of the General Fund. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 2 Responding to a comment from Mayor Obie, Mr, Gleason said the Consumer Price Index does not equate well to the products the City buys. Important gauges e are the number of employees and market wages. C, Ba 11 ot Results Mr. Wong distributed the results of the voting and the councilors reviewed them. The councilors then listed and voted on items they would like to discuss. D. Projects That Might Be Reduced or Eliminated Addition to the Human Rights Program--Mr. Mill er sa i d other staff members must address human rights issues and problems if the program is not staffed adequately, He said the public demands a human rights program and additional staff would help. Ms. Wooten said the existing support is not sufficient. Ms. Ehrman said the staff position is a difficult one and additional funds probably will not help. Ms. Bascom discussed a public meeting concerning the human rights programs and said people who attended wanted the current support continued with a good staff. She said the current support will be better if metropolitan commissions on the rights of youth and the aging are formed. Ms. Schue said she favors evaluating the present program before additional funds are approved. Visitors and Convention Bureau--Mr. Rutan said he would like to know the basis for additional support. Mr. Miller said it is prudent to increase funds to an organization that is producing revenue but he is not sure the increase should be $55,000, Mr. Rutan said the Economic Strategic Plan includes new e roles for the bureau and the process for adopting the plan should be finished before funds for the bureau are increased. Mayor Obie said he would like statistics about how much more business $55,000 would produce. Eugene Celebration--Mr. Rutan said the Celebration is a unique, outstanding community event but the City should not be in the business of staffing it. Mayor Obie said the Celebration affects everyone in the community and people would be disappointed if it is cancelled. Ms, Ehrman said the Celebration is a cultural arts event and there must be some City involvement if it is held. Ms. Wooten said the Celebration was self-supporting this year because of earned income and corporate sponsorship. The City's $55,000 support this year was for City staff and services. Mr. Bennett said people who do not usually go downtown do so during the Celebration. Therefore, the Celebration helps to develop the downtown. Mr. Miller said he would like the Celebration to be self-supporting. Answeri ng a quest; on, Assistant City Manager Dave Whi t low sa i d the City contributed $35,000 in staff support and $20,000 for general support to the Celebration this year. An additional $60,000 is covered by revenues. Downtown Patrols--Mr, Bennett said downtown patrols create a sense of security for people who do not usually go downtown. Mr. Miller said downtown business owners should achieve common hours. He said funds for downtown patrols compete with funds which could be used to reduce response time for e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 3 second and third degree crimes. Ms. Ehrman said the downtown has improved and the patrols might have to be maintained for only a year. Ms. Wooten agreed e wi th Ms. Ehrman and said patrols are an expensive marketing tool for the downtown. Perhaps problems in the downtown could be addressed with focused patrols. Ms. Schue said a perceived lack of security is a problem downtown but $307,000 is too much money for patrols. Removing the benches would be helpful. Ms. Bascom said some intimidating groups need to be dealt with but patrols are not needed. Mayor Obie said he received two calls recently about problems on the mall. He suggested downtown merchants pay for police enhancement. Mr. Bennett responded that increased activity will make downtown patrols unnecessary. Community Schools--Ms. Wooten said the City I S support is minimal and essential. Ms. Bascom said school support in the beautification program is important. Mr. Miller said some other programs affect more people than the community schools program. Ms. Ehrman said the Cops-in-Schools program is a trade-off. She pointed out that the Bethel School District (#52) does not receive City funds. Several councilors said the community schools program is good. Mr. Rutan said funding for other programs is needed more than for the community schools. Nuclear Free Zone--Ms. Wooten said the ordi nance was passed and must be funded. Ms. Ehrman agreed. She said the costs should be included in the budget. Mr, Rutan suggested the ordinance be funded with a serial levy. Mayor Obie said the citizens would have to vote on a serial levy, Ms. Erhman said a vote on a serial levy to fund the nuclear free zone would create turmoil in the community. e Eugene Sports "Youth" Program (ESP)--Mr. Bennett said the program is excellent and cost efficient, children can participate regardless of their parentis income, and volunteers really operate it. He said there is much private investment in the program and it is popular. Ms. Schue said other athletic programs are not supported by the City. However, it is necessary to keep children busy and out of troubl~ and City fi~lds should be used. Mr. Miller ~Qid the time may have come when good program~ hav~ to b~ d~l~t~d from the budget because others are more imperative, Mayor Obi e said the private sector should support the ESP. Ms, Ehrman wondered what percentage of the participants need scholarships. Ms, Wooten said the program will continue even if the City does not contribute. She said the council has not discussed adult sports programs. Answering questions, Mr. Whitlow said the City contributes $51,000 in cash to the program and contracts for maintenance of the fields. Crime Prevention Team--Ms. Wooten said $150,000 will continue the program started last year, She said it has benefited the neighborhoods. Mr. Miller said people often call him about the slow response of police to secondary crimes, Several other councilors said they have not had such complaints, Mr. Miller said the work of the Crime Prevention Team results in better response time to crimes, e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 4 Fire Redeployment--Mr. Gleason said $120,000 is the cost of operating three new stations. The stations would have to be constructed with other funds. e Referring to the River Road annexation program and high productivity, Mr. Miller said approval of the redeployment is necessary to keep operating costs low and protection high. Mr. Gleason said the redeployment is based on existing coverage. Ms. Wooten said the redeployment should be delayed. Ms. Ehrman pointed out there are no designated funds for the implementation of the redeployment plan, Community Service Specialists--Ms. Wooten said the program wi 11 relieve police officers for other work, Animal Control--Ms, Ehrman said the program is necessary and minimal. Mr. Miller said the program should be self-supporting, Mayor Obie agreed. Mr. Rutan said animal control is essential. An~_~r~n; ~LI~c.~_1<-H'~; Mr_ Wh1t:.le>_ ~aid abCH"~ i5~1~~c; :: :-~~~~';'~~ ~::::~::1J rrgrn dog l1[Qn~(H;. TM !~lO,OOO animal ~eM.~el ~~~~~AM ~1A~V;des four field officer~ Qno ~hel~er ~eryi~e~1 Landscape Maintenance and Entrance Beautification--Ms. Bascom said an opportunity wi 11 be lost if funds are not available to maintain the landscaping at new projects. Mr. Rutan said the additional funds are not necessary. Answering questions, Mr. Whitlow said $80,000 will add two people to maintain such things as median strips. e Human Services Intervention--Ms. Wooten said the program will be submitted to the Budget Committee in two or three years. It does not need to be considered now. Answering questions, Mr. Gleason said the Crime Action Newsletter supports the Neighborhood Watch Program. Membership in League of Oregon Cities, National League of Cities--Ms, Schue said membership in the organizations is essential to the City's lobbying effort during the State Legislature. Mayor Obie said Eugene influences the poliCies of the organizations. Ms. Wooten said the ESP is more effective than the lobbying of the League of Oregon Cities. She said Eugene provides the organizations with leadership. E. Projects That Might Be Lowered In The Rankings The councilors completed ballots again. Answering questions, Mr. Whitlow said services of the Permit and Information Center do not overlap with services of the Building Safety Division, The Hazardous Materials Response Team is funded at $65,000 now, Information Services training and support maintains the existing City software. Automation equipment/software is addition s to existing programs or new software. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 5 Downtown Mall Maintenance--Mr. Miller said merchants in other parts of town maintain their properties. Later in the meeting, he wondered if downtown e maintenance funds could be used on streets. Mr. Rutan said the downtown maintenance involves rights-of-way. Tax Allocation funds could not be used because buildings such as the library and Hult Center are outside the Tax Increment District. Community Affairs--Ms. Wooten said $218,000 is a lot for reporting to the mass media about police and other emergency activities. She suggested the funding be reduced. She said the Crime Prevention Team could absorb some educational programs of the Community Affairs section. Ms. Bascom agreed with her. Ms. Ehrman said she would 1 i ke more information about the section's activities. Answering questions, Mr. Gleason reviewed the activities of the division. He said it is part of the Crime Prevention Team. He said informing the mass media of emergencies is very difficult. Automation Equipment/Software--Ms. Wooten sa i d the City spends much for automation. She suggested the item be deleted this year, Ms. Ehrman agreed. Ms. Bascom said automation changes fast and potential efficiencies might be lost if the item is deleted. Mr. Gleason said about half of the $346,000 is for a new communication system for computers, Existing programs cannot be connected to new software without the communication system, Career Criminal Unit--Ms. Ehrman said she sees no reason for the unit. e Ms. Bascom said the Police, Fire and Emergency Services Department should be evaluated. Mr. Whitlow said records maintained by the unit are essential to investigative work. Rental Housing Property Management--Mr. Rutan pointed out the program creates more revenue than it costs. He said the properties are needed for the future. Answering questions, Mr, Gleason said the program used to be contracted but the cost was greater than now. Spay/Neuter Clinic--Mr. Rutan said local veterinarians provide the same service and the City should not compete with them. He said $10,000 could subsidize private programs or spay or neuter stray animals if it is needed. Ms, Schue said the local veterinarians charged more before the City provided the service and the program has made animal control easier. She said it would be expensive to begin the program again if terminating it does not work. Ms. Wooten said the program is functioning well and should be retained. Answering questions, Mr, Whitlow said the net cost of the program is about $42,000. The program provides about $100,000 in revenue. e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 6 Wading Pools--Ms. Bascom said wading pools in parks in affluent neighborhoods are funded by people in the neighborhood but wading pools in poor e neighborhoods are not used because the people cannot afford an attendant. Ms, Schue said this is not a good time to start a program. Ms. Wooten said the Ci ty used to fund the program. She said the cost of the program is only $15,000 and, without it, children in poor neighborhoods cannot cool off in the summer. Mr. Mi 11 er agreed wi th her. Refinement Plans/Special Area Studies--Mr. Rutan said refinement plans usually cannot be funded privately, Specialized Recreation for the Physically and Mentally Handicapped Mr. Rutan said the program is important but the cost should be decreased. He said other programs duplicate this one. Mr. Miller said the City should provide for the handicapped because it is too expensive to do privately. Mr. Bennett wondered how to decide what is fair in providing for the handicapped. Ms, Ehrman said she would like information about what the program includes, Ms. Bascom said the council seemed to be decreasing the City's parks and recreation programs extensively. She suggested the entire program be evaluated. Owen Rose Garden--Mr, Bennett said the $117,000 is too high. He would like to know how many people use the garden. Other councilors said it is used by many people. Ms, Wooten said picnic tables and lawn have been added but $117,000 should provide better maintenance. Ms. Ehrman said the garden is important to tourism. e Answering questions, Mr. Whitlow said the $117,000 pays for two staff members and equipment for maintaining the garden. The councilors voted on moving programs lower in the ranking, At least five councilors voted to move the community affairs, automation equipment/software, and career criminal unit down, F, Revenues The councilors received the results of the second ballots. Some councilors wondered if $6 million in working capital is necessary. Mayor Obie wondered if additional revenues are needed. Ms. Wooten, Ms. Schue, Ms. Erhman, and Mr. Rutan said additional revenues should be considered. Mr. Bennett pointed out that Eugene's taxes are high now and he wondered if cuts in the budget should be made before additional revenues are considered. Ms. Schue said the total taxes of Eugene residents are not extremely high but they are not balanced. Ms. Ehrman said plans should be made for future needs. Mayor Obie said property taxes go up six percent each year but wages have not increased six percent and property taxes are so high that people may lose their homes if there is a recession. He said it would be difficult for him to support a new revenue source unless property taxes are reduced, the new e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 7 ---- revenue source is a direct user fee, or the new revenue is dedicated. He suggested the council consider deleting programs from the budget. e Mr. Rutan said the City has increased user fees recently and could consider increasing them more. Mr. Mill er said he could support some additional revenues or user fees if they are dedicated to a specific service and do not overburden people. He suggested the public be tested to see what it wants. Ms. Schue said people generally want more services. She said people with low incomes usually are hurt the most when programs are deleted from the budget. Answering a question from Ms. Ehrman, Mayor Obie said the City does not have to raise property taxes six percent annually. Ms. Ehrman said she is interested in a gas tax, user fees, and a five percent restaurant tax. She said restaurant taxes are common and are pa i d by visitors. Mr. Bennett said he favors a gas tax and user fees that are dedicated. He said a new revenue source that is not dedicated would probably not be accepted. He emphasi zed that the council should make "hard choi ces. II Mr. Rutan said he is interested in a gas tax dedicated to street maintenance, user fees of more than an additional $200,000, a restaurant tax, and a utility tax. He said the community has low energy costs. Ms. Wooten said she is interested in the real estate transfer tax. She said it is simple to administer. She said she supports a restaurant tax and is interested in a gas tax. e Ms. Bascom said the council should discuss the library and new taxes should be devoted to it. She said financing a new library will be complicated. She said she is interested in the gas tax. She wondered about a business and occupations tax. Ms. Schue said she supports a restaurant tax. She pointed out the State gas tax will increase and the City will get approximately an additional $500,000 from it next year. She said she might support a restaurant tax and needs more information about a business and occupations tax. Answering a question from Mr. Miller, Mr. Whitlow sa i d deferred street maintenance is $3 or $4 million. Mr. Miller said a City gas tax would be prudent if the additional State gas tax is not sufficient to meet the City's needs, He wondered about an increase in the room tax and a restaurant tax that would be dedicated to the Hult Center or some other activity that benefits from visitors. He is interested in a business and occupation tax if it would not hurt struggling businesses and could be dedicated to the Chamber of Commerce or the Metropolitan Partnership. Mr. Rutan agreed the council should consider an increase in the room tax. He said a backlog in street maintenance is legitimate, - MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 8 Ms, Wooten said it is generally not good to dedicate revenues. e Mayor Obie said the council needs information about the State gas tax. The councilors discussed their Goals Session and the November 30 meeting when they will repeat this process. Ms. Wooten wondered about establishing goals before the financial planning process is complete. She said she would like to know the actual saving from deleted programs "below the line" and whether the deletions would result in lay-offs. Mr. Miller said the City will have a deficit and new ideas will be added in the budget process. He said he would like an analysis of the impact of deleting the projects that are "below the line." Mr. Gleason said the ranking process will deal better with the six-year stability issue than with next year's budget. He hoped the ranking process would result in policy directions to the executive managers. He discussed the advantages of gradually reducing personnel rather than laying off people. Several councilors said the process this evening has been beneficial. Mr. Rutan said the council will have to make "hard choices.1I Ms. Ehrman said the reductions discussed will affect several departments. Ms. Bascom urged the council to discuss central overhead, She said City offices are attractive but some cuts in central overhead may have to be made. Mayor Obie suggested the staff present possible deletions in the central overhead to the council later. Mr. Miller agreed with Ms. Bascom, He said it may take several years to reduce personnel. Mr. Boles said Budget Committee members appreciated hearing the discussion. e He suggested the Ci ty poll a representative group of voters about Ci ty expenditures and additional revenues. Mayor Obie adjourned the meeting at 9:40 p,m, (Recorded by Betty Lou Rarick) mncc1102 e MINUTES--Eugene City Council November 2, 1987 Page 9