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Central Business Functions <br />Service Issues and Accomplishments <br />1. The City will continue to enhance "e-Government" services such as access to information, <br />citizen input, and e-Commerce using the City web site. Privacy, City business systems security, and <br />adequate network capacity remain areas of concern. Likewise, the City network must be high <br />speed, reliable and secure and this requires ongoing investments in network infrastructure. City <br />departments are exploring new developments in wireless and mobile communications. While this <br />technology offers exciting opportunities, significant security and performance challenges must be <br />overcome. <br />2. The Area Information Records System (AIRS) Consortium (Eugene, Springfield and Lane <br />County) has been working to replace the outdated AIRS system. The current system is over 30 <br />years old and cannot provide support for critical public safety functions including Records <br />Management, Local Courts and Field Reporting. The implementation of a new Computer Aided <br />Dispatch (CAD) system was completed in FY04 and Mobile Data and Fire/EMS Records <br />computing was completed in FY05. The second phase of implementation began in FY06 and will <br />continue through FY08. <br />3. In 1997, the City adopted telecommunication ordinances that reflected the Federal Tele- <br />communications Act and the needs of the community. Ordinance 20083 was challenged in State <br />Court and the City prevailed in 2003 at the Oregon Supreme Court. Program staff has returned to <br />fully implementing Ordinance 20083 as intended by the City Council. Actions in congress and state <br />legislatures, Federal Communications Commission, and further legal challenges continue to put the <br />traditionally collected rights of way fees and telecommunications tax in jeopardy. <br />4. The current property tax system relies on low inflation (three percent or less) and a high level of <br />new construction to provide the tax resources needed to fund the same level of service for a growing <br />population. As inflation rises or development slows, the City's property tax revenue will not be <br />sufficient to maintain services. Finding new resources to support government activities and <br />controlling cost increases is a primary challenge in the years ahead. <br />5. With the limitations in growth for unrestricted General Fund revenues, the City has turned to <br />local option levies (library and youth recreation). Funding ongoing services on atime-limited basis <br />requires substantial contingency planning in the event a local option levy is not renewed. Both <br />levies expire at the end of FY07. <br />6. The organization has now completed its seventh year of implementation of a City-wide diversity <br />plan. A comprehensive evaluation of the program's effectiveness has recently been completed. <br />The results of that assessment are being used to refocus organization-wide diversity efforts. <br />7. Costs continue to increase significantly for the health and liability insurance programs. Key <br />drivers of the health insurance cost increase are general medical inflation; rising provider expenses; <br />rising prescription drug costs; aging workforce; and increasing numbers of retirees enrolled in the <br />City's health plans. The City now fully self-insures all of the health plans offered to employees, as <br />part of its cost containment strategy. The Benefits Study Group, involving representatives of each <br />employee unit, continues to monitor the City's health care costs and explore additional cost <br />containment alternatives. Although nationally property and liability insurance premium rates are <br />stabilizing after several years of large increases, the City is facing an increase in the cost of risk due <br />primarily to an unusually large number of police liability claims. <br />76 <br />