QuickTake:

Eugene City Council members are considering options to the fire service fee to avoid deeper budget cuts, including a potential fee that would have a sunset clause. 

Eugene city councilors continue to hunt for alternative ideas as they look for ways to weather a $11.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year. 

In a work session Wednesday, the Eugene City Council directed city staff to bring back more information May 21 about two possible options to the fire service fee the council passed in February. One option is an unspecified fee that would generate $8 million or $6 million annually, with a four-year sunset. Another option is a stormwater fee that would raise $4.7 million and another $1.1 million in one-time funding.

The high-level talks are far from a final decision, but they also show city officials looking for other ways to raise revenue and avoid cuts to services, including closing the downtown library on Sundays and Mondays and shuttering Amazon Pool after the summer season.  

The move comes three months after councilors thought they had a solution for the city’s next budget: On Feb. 10, the councilors voted 5-3 to pass the fire service fee. But the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce gathered more than 8,400 signatures to put the fee on the ballot.

Now, the council is looking for alternatives to the fire service fee, which would raise $10 million in annual revenue, with $8 million of it going toward the $11.5 million gap. The other $2 million would help the fire department.

Councilors did not make a final decision Wednesday but said they were open to a compromise that would help stave off deeper budget cuts and also address concerns from the public. Critics have complained the fire service fee is inappropriately named, because it would cover other needs in the city in addition to the fire department, and never faced a public vote.

“The outpouring of emails from so many people for weeks now makes it very clear to me that the wise person moves to compromise in a moment like this, and that’s what I’m going to try to do,” Councilor Mike Clark said in the meeting. “We’re in a heck of a fix, and we’re in a place where compromise is needed, and I hope all of us are willing to do so.”

Even with the fire service fee in place, the city would still face a $3.5 million budget gap. The new budget year starts July 1, but the fire service fee wouldn’t go on the ballot until November or Aug. 26, if the city decides to schedule a special election. With the fee headed to the ballot, city officials are planning a budget with the assumption that money from the fee will not be available. 

The council also could still reverse its passage of the fire service fee, making an election unnecessary. 

City Manager Sarah Medary encouraged the council to avoid a short-term solution. Given the time it takes to set up a system to collect fees and the costs involved, a two-year sunset clause would force the city to turn around and have to find another solution too soon, Medary said. 

Councilor Eliza Kashinsky voted against both of the motions to have city staff investigate options, but said that shouldn’t mean the conversation on the issue should end. She raised concerns about the two options, arguing, for example, that the four-year sunset would be too short and not a long-term solution. She was the only councilor voting against the motions. 

Ben Botkin covers politics and policy in Lane County. He has worked as a journalist since 2003, most recently at the Oregon Capital Chronicle, where he covered justice, health and human services and documented regional efforts to combat fentanyl addiction. Botkin has worked in statehouses in Idaho, Nevada, Oklahoma and, of course, Oregon. When he's not working, you'll find him road tripping across the West, hiking or surfing along the Oregon Coast.