Trying to add a payment method? You can do this on the 
QuickTake:
It’s not the fee itself that is objectionable, some businesspeople say. It’s the way the city council approved the fee without asking voters — and named it in a way that doesn’t reflect where the money will end up.
On Feb. 10, the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce — which advocates for business interests in the city — sent a letter to the Eugene City Council and Mayor Kaarin Knudson, objecting to the proposed fire service fee. The chamber letter, given to Lookout Eugene-Springfield, raises several points of concern. Chief among them: Voters weren’t given a chance to weigh in on the proposed fee.
Chamber members “urge the Council to refer this decision to voters if new revenue is necessary,” the letter read, in part. “Doing so is the most responsible course of action,” it added. The letter also warned of a “citizen-led referral effort” to put the fee to voters, if the council approved the fee.
The council voted 5–3 to go ahead with the fee, which is based on the square footage of structures — homes and businesses. The Chamber made good on its promise, and collected more than 8,400 signatures to get the fee on an upcoming ballot.
Two months later, the council’s actions still rankle members of the business community, including 27 members of the chamber who signed the Feb. 10 letter.
“Not allowing people to vote on it was a stickler with me,” said Mike Coughlin, a developer and business leader in Eugene who signed the chamber’s letter. “Why wouldn’t you do that? It’s a permanent fee you’re putting in.”
He added that he didn’t object to the dollar amounts (although owners of the largest buildings in town, including school districts and the University of Oregon, could face annual bills of more than $21,000), but rather the process.
Facing a budget shortfall, the city needs to consider not only the money that is coming in, but where it’s being spent, he said.
“You have to step back and look at the priorities our community has for our tax dollars,” Coughlin said. “This is not, ‘We want to slash and burn on services.’
“The whole budget process has been a screaming mess.”
Many consider the fire service fee to be a misnomer, because only about $2 million of the amount raised will go to fund new fire department services. (All the money raised would be earmarked for the fire department, but the department would draw $8 million less from the city’s general fund, allowing the city to use that $8 million to fill other budget gaps.)
“The fee is misnamed, and the city should be transparent,” said Liz Cawood, president and founder of Cawood, a marketing agency in Eugene. “It wants a fee to cover expenses that it can’t cover with its current revenue sources.”
Cawood, like Coughlin, signed the Chamber’s letter, which also took issue with the name. “The public will reasonably assume that $10 million in new investment is being made into Eugene’s Fire Department,” the letter stated.
The name was “disingenuous,” said Coughlin. Cawood said the name goes against what she strives for with her company’s advertising and marketing campaigns.
“When you market, you want to be authentic and tell the truth,” she said. “The public has become much more aware and sensitive to things that aren’t as they seem. I don’t think it was a good move for the city to do it.”
