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When Eugene Save Our Services began organizing to defend the fire service fee last month and pointed out potential cuts to popular services, including the Eugene Public Library, Greenhill Humane Society, the alternative response program CAHOOTS, the Amazon Pool, Sheldon Community Center and more, critics said those were just fear tactics to garner support for the fee.
On April 25, City Manager Sarah Medary released an amended budget without the fire fee and guess what? All of those services are on the cut list.
We are now just two months from the start of the new fiscal year. Staff members whose jobs are at risk are being notified of their impending terminations.
The downtown library will be closed two days per week. Greenhill, under its contract with the city last year, cared for more than 1,600 stray, at-risk and quarantined animals, including dangerous dogs held for public safety. Greenhill will now be forced to stop providing that care after July 1, as the contract will be eliminated with no alternative in place.
This could be the last summer that our local youth will be able to use the Amazon Pool. Neighborhood associations will have no support from city staff.
The city’s ability to respond to hate crimes will be seriously curtailed, too, with half the personnel to do the job. The list goes on.
We deserve better!
Two years ago, Medary warned the City Council this could happen. After making reductions to the city’s budget for 16 of the past 20 years, the Council boldly responded by directing her to explore new revenue options.
In 2023, she appointed leaders representing a broad cross section of the community, including from the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, to a group of revenue advisors. They studied more than 45 options and provided advice to guide her decision on what to recommend to councilors.
The result of that work is the fire service fee. The process was transparent and inclusive.
The Chamber has voiced opposition to the fee for a variety of reasons but to date have largely ignored the primary issue of the structural problem created by the limitations of Measures 5 and 50 that are strangling local government’s ability to provide services.
Any solution which claims support for services on the chopping block that does not address this issue is shortsighted.
Property taxes, the primary revenue source for the city’s general fund, can only grow by an artificial 3 percent per year. Every year that inflation and other costs, such as equipment costs, pension obligations and energy costs increase by more than 3 percent, we get further behind.
Unlike other states, assessed property values do not reset at time of sale and new construction gets a significant discount, making the system unsustainable over time. Growing the tax base may be good, but it also grows the cost of services, which outpace the city’s revenue because of these structural limitations on property taxes.
To the Chamber’s credit, it supported levies for specific items we value, including public safety, libraries and parks. Its support for these efforts is appreciated. But levies have their limitations and must be continually renewed to remain in force. A structural problem needs a structural fix – a permanent source of revenue on which the city can plan year after year.
The budget with the fire fee set forth by the city manager on April 18 includes $3.5 million in reductions. In Medary’s introduction, she said: “This year’s budget stands out as one of the most challenging in my career. After so many years of pursuing efficiencies, consolidating services and making difficult reductions, the room for further cuts without significant service impacts has narrowed considerably.”
We concur.
It is now obvious that further reductions in the budget without the fire fee or some equivalent will result in significant reductions – and in some cases – the full elimination of critical services that our community needs. Indeed, Medary said, “Every reduction impacts someone, whether it’s a resident relying on a service or a staff member dedicated to delivering it.”
We do agree – in part – with Brittany Quick-Warner, the Chamber’s president and CEO, who wrote in a Lookout guest column that improvements to the ordinance can be made. We welcome an alternative path.
That path, however, must include a recognition of the fundamental structural problem and a new source of revenue to address it. All other details – the name, a sunset clause, an oversight committee – can be negotiated.
Restoring the services cut in the amended budget is the bottom line for Eugene SOS and our more than 3,000 supporters. We welcome the opportunity to engage in this effort with the City Council, the Chamber, and others who value our community and desire to save our services for the common good.
Dan Bryant is the chair of Eugene Save Our Services PAC (www.eugeneSOS.com) and a resident of Eugene since 1991. His middle name is Eugene, truly!
