Legislative Policies for the 2007 Oregon Legislative Session

New Search

City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2007 Oregon Legislative Session City of Eugene Legislative Policies for 2007 Oregon Legislative Session INTRODUCTION EXECUTIVE SUMMARY As the state's second most populous metropolitan area, Eugene-Springfield serves as the To assist lawmakers in understanding the broad array of issue areas which can directly economic, recreational and cultural center for the southern Willamette Valley and much of I affect the City of Eugene, this legislative policy overview provides an issue-by-issue southwestern Oregon. The metropolitan area population is now more than 200,000. The resource. For 2007, the City of Eugene highlighted three broad themes in evaluating regional economy is diversified, with emphasis on technology, timber, education and legislation; these are listed below. service industries. Ensuring Revenue for Needed Services The City of Eugene operates under a home rule charter providing fora .council/manager ~ The City of Eugene urges the State Legislature to responsibly address state form of government. The offices of the mayor and city councilors are nonpartisan, with the revenue shortfalls to fund K-12 public education and critical state services and to mayor elected at-large and one councilor elected from each of eight city wards. i preserve revenue sharing with cities and counties. In the' past decade as a result of property tax limitation measures, specifically Measure 5 in ~ The City of Eugene strongly supports the ongoing work of transportation funding 1990 and Measures 47150 in 199611997, the Ciry has gone through a number of budget packages that establish local system maintenance, preservation and operation as a reduction processes. In the early 1990s as a result of Measure 5, Eugene went through an priority and the City strongly opposes any attempt to limit local option street funding extensive 18-month process to evaluate City services and potential budget cuts. The City alternatives including local fuel taxes and transportation system maintenance fees. identified and made $5.3 million in budget. cuts through eliminating services and personnel reductions. As a result of Measure 50, which did not pass in Eugene or Lane County, the ~ The City of Eugene strongly supports equitable distribution of a reauthorized 9-1-1 City cut an additional $8.7 million in services in fiscal years 1998 and 1999. telephone excise tax. This important user fee provides revenue for emergency call- takingfor 39 police, fire and emergency medical services inCentral-Lane County.... The City's revenue has not kept pace with the service needs of the community since then. In fiscal year 2002 and again in 2003, service levels were reduced and General Fund ~ The City opposes attempts to exempt "intangibles" from taxes or other reductions to reserves have been tapped to forestall deficits that were projected to occur in five of the the. fixed property tax revenues on which the City relies under Measure 5. next six years. ~ Public rights-of-way are. a valuable public asset. The City stronglysupports Despite the fiscal challenges faced by the City, Eugene has to-date maintained an "Aa" protection of local governments' authority to manage these public assets on behalf .bond rating from Moody's Investors Service. That rating is a positive reflection of the of their taxpayers and receive adequate compensation for their use. .management and performance history of the City. It is supported by the factthat a large percentage of the citizens rate City services positively, and demonstrates that the City is ~ The City supports efforts to uphold PERS reforms and mitigate volatile rate attempting to strategically address the fiscal and service issues facing the community in increases to public employers, in a fashion that upholds a fair and adequate this decade. retirement for public employees. ~ The City supports the removal of prohibition on SDCs for schools, police, fire and ` _ library and the preservation of existing SDCs. Preserving Home Rule and Local Flexibility ~ The Ciry will strongly oppose attempts to repeal smoking bans, such as that adopted by the Eugene City Council in November 2000. ~ The City will oppose attempts to repeal Eugene's ToxicsRight-to-Know program and oppose toxic statutes unfair to small businesses. ~ The City strongly supports protecting the home rule authority of local government to A charge franchise fees for use of its rights-of-way by telecommunication companies. ~ The City supports after-school youth programs and identification of long-term funding for these programs. ~ The City supports repeal of the prohibition on inclusionary zoning. 2 3