QuickTake:

Eugene city officials plan to preserve city services as much as possible in the next two-year budget cycle. They also are interested in bringing back a mobile crisis service similar to CAHOOTS. 

The Eugene Budget Committee unanimously recommended the city council pass a budget that keeps intact services that were in jeopardy, such as the Amazon Pool and seven-day access to the downtown library.

At its Wednesday meeting, the budget committee also signaled it wants the city manager to explore options that would bring back a service similar to CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out On The Streets). The city’s contract with White Bird Clinic, which runs CAHOOTS, ended earlier this year. Now, Lane County’s mobile crisis unit responds to calls in Eugene and throughout the region, which often can involve people facing mental health and drug addiction crises.

The budget committee’s actions are recommendations for the city council and are by no means a final decision.

But because the 16-member budget committee has eight city council members and eight community members, its recommendation often signals the direction that elected officials want to take. Its recommended budget eliminates many of the cuts the city considered to patch an $11.5 million annual shortfall. 

That comes after the council has signaled its willingness to pass a stormwater fee increase that would raise $4.7 million annually — and avoid some of the deepest and most painful cuts, including to animal welfare services and the proposed closure of the Sheldon Community Center. City councilors last week directed staff to start working on an ordinance for a stormwater fee increase. That’s intended to replace the proposed fire service fee, which the council passed in February but faced headwinds after the Eugene Chamber of Commerce gathered enough signatures to put it on the ballot. The council has not yet reversed its vote on the fee but has until mid-July to do so.

“I cannot imagine what Eugene looks like without our library being open seven days a week downtown, without the Amazon Pool, without the (Sheldon) community center, without our animal services,” Tai Pruce-Zimmerman, the budget committee chair, said in an interview after the meeting. “To have those things in jeopardy and be able to get to a place where we’re going to have those services for the next two years is great.”

But he added: “I’m worried about the next two years because this is going to come back up again.”

Meanwhile, the city’s work to potentially bring a CAHOOTS-like model to Eugene has unanswered questions. The budget committee recommended that the city council direct City Manager Sarah Medary to investigate how the city could provide an alternative response program similar to CAHOOTS and identify potential sources of funding. 

Councilor Alan Zelenka, who made the motion, said afterward that dozens of people testified in favor of CAHOOTS, which has saved lives.

“I don’t know exactly where that money’s going to come from,” he said. “That’s the point of the investigation. What are the options for us?”

The city’s manager’s report is due to come back by the end of October. Although the budget will be passed at that point, the city council could take supplemental action if it wished to add that funding item to its plan. 

It’s unknown how that program might start if it returns to Eugene. It could involve city employees operating the program or another organization like one that former White Bird Clinic employees have started called Willamette Valley Crisis Care.

The council is expected to vote on the city’s budget June 23.

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.