FY 2004-09 Eugene CIP - Laserfiche WebLink

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3. Refer a series of general obligation bonds to voters to pay for major reconstruction or improvements to City facilities. During the FY04 budget preparation process, the City Manager elected to maintain the General Fund transfer to the Capital Budget at the FY031eve1, in effect foregoing the planned annual $100,000 increase. Additionally, the Budget Committee prioritized the transfer in a manner similar to other General Fund services and recommended a 4.5% cut in funding resulting in an additional reduction of $85,500. Based on these reductions, the FY04 General Fund transfer is anticipated to be $1.815 million. The total projected FY04 General Fund contribution to capital projects is $2.715 million including the anticipated $900,000 of available end-of--year General Fund balance. The strategy of referring general obligation bonds to the voters to pay for major reconstruction or improvements to City facilities is being pursued in combination with other funding sources. In 1998, the City Council sold $18 million of bonds backed by Urban Renewal funds to construct a new library. Private contributions pledged by members of the community was also used to fund a portion of the new facility based on library patron needs. In November 1998, voters approved an operating levy for the new library as well as funding for park acquisition and improvements to Amazon Pool. In May 2002 voters renewed the Library Local Option Levy. In May, 2001, the City Council adopted a Downtown City Space Plan, setting a strategy for replacement of City Hall and other downtown City offices with one or more new buildings. The major elements of this strategy included relocation of Police personnel from the basement of City Hall, relocation of Fire Station #1 to a new facility, construction of a new Police headquarters building and eventual replacement of City Hall itself. The first two elements of the Downtown City Space Plan have been initiated. In May 2002, voters approved an $8.68 million bond issue ; for construction of a new Downtown Fire Station and a Live Fire Training Building. Council has also approved the use of up to $3.9 million from the Facility Replacement Fund to construct a Police facility on Garfield Street adjacent to the Public Works Department's Roosevelt Yard. - The new Police facility will house the Police forensics lab and property section, which will be moved from the basement of City Hall. The remaining elements of the Downtown City Space Plan - construction of a new Police Headquarters. and a new City Hall -are included as unfunded projects in this Capital Improvement Program. Building Preservation and Deferred Maintenance In 1995, the City Council adopted a Facility Condition Report (FCR) process, which establishes baseline data about the condition of facilities supported by the General Fund through a detailed, ` structured inspection process. All capital building and facility projects in the General- Fund are assessed and prioritized on the basis of this report The 2001 FCR found that, for the first time since the Facility Condition Report was begun, the Deferred Maintenance Backlog has been reduced, reversing the trend of prior years. Between ' the 1997 and 2001 audits of General Fund facilities, the backlog of deficiencies decreased by over 40%. While the condition of the current inventory of General Fund buildings has improved due to the replacement of older facilities with new construction, the major reasons for the improvement in the condition of General Fund facilities are the increased level of reinvestment I' ' City of Eugene 2004 - 2009 Capital Improvement Program Page 60