Budget Meeting Minutes 05/11/05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Mr. Pape thanked staff for the presentation. He asked why revenue at the Amazon Aquatic Facility had not maintained the same pace as expenses. Ms. Grube responded that the revenue did continue to grow, but this had not kept the same pace as operations and maintenance costs. She attributed this primarily to the dramatic increase in personnel costs related to pension and health benefits. Mr. Kelly remarked that revenue shortfalls •fostered creativity in staff people. He reiterated that ongoing services of a general purposes government ought to be funded by ongoing general purpose revenue. He thought until the City had the "broader revenue restructuring conversation" and took that conversation to the voters, he felt the City would continue to be in this "tight spot." Ms. Taylor concurred with Mr. Kelly. She shared Ms. Rygas' concern with the. fees at Amazon Pool. She noted that a family pass in 2003 had been $100 and was now increased to $188 in 2005. She predicted that this would preclude some children from being able to swim. She said the solution was to seek a different source of revenue. She hoped this would be addressed when the City Council resumed its goal setting. In response to a question from Ms. Ortiz, Ms. Grube stated that the PROS division partnered with the school districts and bringing youth from the schools to swim was a part of this partnership as well as occasionally providing passes and scholarships for low-income children. Ms. Bettman wondered if revenues to the Amazon Aquatic Facility could be increased by adding more hours in which it was open to the public. Ms. Grube responded that the pool had a variety of activities that sought to be in balance. She said currently there were only two swim meets at the facility during the summer and, at that level, she did not think that a change in how the uses of the facility were scheduled would significantly increase revenues at this point. VI. POLICE STRATEGIC PLANNING & ONGOING REVIEWS Police Chief Bob Lehner provided a brief overview of the strategic planning process for the Eugene Police Department (EPD). He thought the end result of the planning process would undoubtedly have significant budget implications. Chief Lehner said he spent much of his first year in the City of Eugene attending community meetings in order to engage the community in a dialogue on what they felt the status was of their police services as well as some of the things the public aspired to get out of its public safety services. He underscored that the purpose of this dialogue was to open the door and engage people. He also conducted this type of dialogue internally. He felt he was able to ascertain what people were most interested in and where the most significant service gaps lay. Chief Lehner explained that the strategic planning process consisted of an introductory meeting with Eugene Police Department (EPD) staff, scheduled for March 1, where elements of the strategic initiatives that were being commonly heard from public input would be shared including new programs and services people were interested in having vetted and placed on the table as an item for future discussion. He said the other end of the gamut was comprised of elements of the service that the public questioned the merit of continuing. He hoped to begin the discussion with staff at that meeting and to roughly shake out the common themes in order to develop a draft plan. He stressed that the committee members and council would have every opportunity to review the work. He hoped that a fmal draft of proposed strategic initiatives to take Eugene policing forward in the next five years would be completed by the end of 2005. MINUTES-Eugene Budget Committee February 22, 2005 Page 17