City/County Road Partnership & Proposed County Capital Project Partnership

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~> took over the responsibility for funding this broader range of service in return for increased funding for City road-related operations, maintenance and capital improvements. Over the past several years, the City has continued to request jurisdictional transfer of roads within newly annexed areas, as required by the County/City Partnership agreement. To date we have accepted over 44 miles of County road transfers. Eugene has basically two sources of road fiznd re~vpnue that are available to be used to operate and maintain the 494 miles of urban streets in the city, State Highway Funds and Lane County Road Funds. The other primary transportation ~--~~- funds (SDC's and assessments) can only be used for capacity enhancement projects. You have requested a summary of how County Road funds received by the City have been used over the past five years. As verified by the recent study included in the Transpian update, State Highway Fund revenues are not sufficient to cover operations, maintenance and capital preservation needs. From FY96 through FY00 the City has spent over $40.3 million on operation and maintenance of the City road system, including 213 traffic signals, 530 miles of striping, over 7500 street lights and 23,000 signs. Over that period the County/City Partnership Road Fund contribution to the City was $10.5 million, representing approximately 26 percent of the City expenditures for operation, maintenance and preservation. Based on the Transplan study, Eugene's resources available for system operations, maintenance and preservation were only 85 percent of the needed amount according to the estimates of urban service costs by Oregon Department of Transportation_ Since FY96, the combined revenues from State Highway Funds and Lane County Road Funds to the City of Eugene have been decreasing annually (from $8.26m in FY96 to $7.lOm in FY00) as the system size and complexity have grown. The recent legislative action to increase the State Highway Fund contribution to the City would have brought us back to FY961evel of funding, without consideration for inflationary impacts and .increased system requirements. The suspension of new state revenues pending the upcoming May elections, combined with the question of Lane County Road Fund contributions to the City places the transportation system in the City of Eugene in jeopardy. We appreciate the concern of the Lane County Board in the long term picture for road financing in the County.. We also appreciate the long standing partnership basis for the County/City Road agreement and look forward to discussing the opportunities for continuing the participation of the County in the urban transportation system supporting the economic hub of the County. Sincerely, James D. Torrey Mayor ce: Jim Johnson, City Manager Chris Andersen, Public Works Director 44