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Infrastructure and Planning Services <br />Funding for implementation of the plan will be generated by a combination of user fees, systems <br />development charges and revenue bonds issued by the Metropolitan Wastewater Management <br />Commission. <br />The local wastewater program includes ongoing capital investments aimed at reducing the <br />amount of water entering the system that contributes to the peak wet weather flow demands on <br />the regional plant. In order to maintain operations and fund'the capital program, local user fees <br />are anticipated to increase 4% in FY08, or 26 cents per month for the typical residential <br />customer. <br />Changing regulatory requirements will continue to present new challenges. For example, recent <br />changes for water temperature, mercury and wet weather flow management will influence how <br />the regional wastewater system is managed. <br />14. Urban forestry services continue to increase leverage of community support in tree planting <br />and small tree pruning through the NeighborWoods and new Tree Stewards programs. <br />Technological innovations have helped Urban Forestry staff inventory more than 20% of the <br />approximately 100,000 City's street trees in the past year. Preventive-maintenance pruning has <br />been minimized, and request-pruning prioritizes traffic and pedestrian safety concerns. Cross- <br />training continues to broaden the capabilities of technical and field staff. <br />15. A $27.5 million Parks & Open Space bond measure was approved by Eugene voters in <br />November 2006. The primary focus of the bond is to fund property acquisition for new <br />neighborhood parks, community parks, and natural areas. Funding is also identified for <br />constructing artificial turf fields in partnership with local school districts and building the West <br />Eugene Wetland Education Center in partnership with federal and local agencies. A $25.3 <br />million Parks & Open Space bond measure that was passed by Eugene. voters in 1998 funded <br />renovation, .acquisition, and development projects from FY00 through FY08. <br />Park System Development Charges (SDCs) are the primary consistent source for funding <br />acquisition and development of new parks. SDCs are paid for by new development and are used <br />to fund capacity enhancing projects. Improvement SDCs cannot be used for preservation and <br />maintenance of existing facilities.. The Public Works Rates Advisory Committee concluded its <br />review and revisions of the Parks SDC methodology and the City Council is considering <br />adoption of a revised methodology in early 2007. <br />Funding for maintenance continues to be a challenge in order to meet the needs of both aging <br />and new park infrastructure. SDCs and bond funding provides a steady stream of revenue for <br />new park development and acquisition. These new assets put a continual strain on operations to <br />maintain a growing inventory while meeting the standards that the community has come to <br />expect. This problem is compounded by the fact that adequate funds are not available to make <br />renovations to parks that were developed several decades ago. These parks with outdated <br />infrastructure are inefficient to maintain and offer sub-standard services to the neighborhoods <br />they serve. <br />56 <br />