QuickTake:

Eugene councilors support a stormwater fee increase that would generate $4.7 million annually and offset deeper budget cuts. The move comes amid widespread criticism of the city’s fire service fee, which would raise more money.

Eugene City Council members are moving forward with plans for a stormwater fee increase to help offset deeper budget cuts that would end or reduce city services including the downtown library, Amazon Pool and a community center. 

With a 6–2 vote, councilors directed city staff Wednesday to start working on the stormwater fee increase, which would generate $4.7 million annually and sunset in six years. The action sets into motion a plan that likely will replace the fire service fee the council passed Feb. 10. 

The stormwater fee increase would raise substantially less than the fire service fee, which would have raised about $10 million. But the fire service fee faced stiff public opposition, with the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce gathering more than 8,400 signatures to refer it to that ballot. That meant its passage was far from certain as the city maps out a new two-year budget to start July 1. 

The planned stormwater fee increase represents a compromise, one that is intended to help preserve some of the city’s most cherished services, though cuts still will be necessary as the city faces an $11.5 million annual budget gap. As for the fire service fee, councilors can repeal it entirely, eliminating the need for an election. At the Wednesday work session, the council agreed to make a final decision on whether to repeal the fire service fee by mid-July.

“At some point, we have to wrestle with reality here,” Councilor Randy Groves said at the meeting, adding the stormwater rate increase is the only one of the council’s options “that makes sense.”

The council made the move Wednesday after hearing about the stormwater option and two others that would have raised $6 million or $8 million. Councilors went with the option that would raise the least amount of money, citing the ease of quickly raising stormwater rates and reduced administrative workload. The other fee options would have taken months to set up and engendered higher overhead costs.

Councilors Eliza Kashinsky and Alan Zelenka opposed the proposal. 

“I feel like this is not enough money and this is not a reasonable compromise, if you want to call it that,” Kashinsky said, adding that she supports all the services that the city will save with the stormwater fee — but also believes it needs more money to save additional services.

The city has not yet passed its budget, which is created and approved in a separate process. That means the council’s action Wednesday does not identify which city services are preserved and which ones are cut.

The council is not set to vote on the budget until June 23.

A city analysis shows that the amount raised by the stormwater fee would prevent the proposed cuts that have drawn the most criticism. Cuts that could be avoided include closing the downtown library on Sundays and Mondays, closing the Amazon Pool and shuttering the Sheldon Community Center. 

But cuts to other programs would still be necessary, and potentially could include services such as downtown clean-up and beautification, assistance to people who are homeless, and others.

The stormwater fee is designed to raise $4.7 million, because that’s how much money the city spends from its general fund to pay for its parks and open spaces. The idea is that money from the fee increase will cover the costs of those parks and open spaces, freeing up money from the general fund to pay for other services. 

The proposed increase in the stormwater fees comes after the city council in June 2024 enacted a policy change that allows it to increase stormwater rates to cover the costs of parks and open spaces. Earlier this year, the council used that change to raise rates by $1.1 million.

Now, the city can raise stormwater rates by another $4.7 million — enough to cover what parks and open spaces cost the city’s general fund. For the budget, it frees up other general fund dollars to cover needs in other city departments. Earlier this year, the city raised the stormwater rates to replace $1.1 million in general fund money for parks.

The planned change represents an 18% increase in stormwater rates. For a medium-sized residence, it adds $3.50 a month. For a 35,000-square-foot grocery store or other commercial property, it’s another $47 a month. For a larger commercial property of 500,000 square feet, the increase is $672 a month. 

The council’s action Wednesday triggers an administrative process in which City Manager Sarah Medary publishes a public notice with the rate increase and has an administrative public hearing before signing an order. That process, in its entirety, is expected to take nine or 10 weeks, so the fee increase could be in place in August.

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.