Eugene won’t face significant reductions to its public service levels based on budget shortfalls for the first time in several years.
City Manager Dennis Taylor presented his budget proposal for the 2004-05 fiscal year at a meeting before members of the Budget Committee on Monday, outlining a plan he said will maintain current service levels bankrolled by the city’s General Fund.
The $375.6 million budget calls for redirecting money from city administration to fire and police services, as well as maintaining current expenditures in other departments. The proposal also includes a 2.4 percent increase to the net operating budgets of all departments.
Taylor said the General Fund, historically the city’s “most-challenged fund,” will increase 2.1 percent from last year, rising to $126.7 million.
Taylor said the budget benefits from past decisions to maintain millions in reserve money.
“This budget benefits from tough choices the Budget Committee and council made over the last few years,” Taylor said.
Taylor called the plan a “very modest budget proposal,” warning the committee that future cuts may be around the corner. He advised committee members that rising personnel costs and inflation may necessitate service reductions for the 2006-07 fiscal year, urging them to continue their “tradition of fiscal discipline” with this year’s budget.
“Please stay the course,” Taylor said. “We have daunting challenges ahead.”
Police and fire budgets totaled $49.8 million, or about 50 percent of all department expenditures. Personnel costs also comprised a large portion of the budget, making up 72 percent of the General Fund.
The budget included $1,272,000 in savings, with reductions from inflation estimates, Central Services and police making up most of the money.
The proposal also reallocated $1,371,360 to various department budgets. It gave $370,100 to the police budget to fund additional patrol officers and 911 operators for half of next year. It called for one-time expenditures of $326,860 and $74,400 for police vehicle and equipment upgrades and support for the federal Weed and Seed grant, which provides prevention and intervention programs for at-risk youth.
The budget listed $62.3 million in property taxes as the largest source of city revenue, making up 66 percent of all current revenue. Taylor said the average homeowner can expect a $30 increase in property taxes next year, from about $1,442 to $1,472.
Ward 2 City Councilor Betty Taylor was one of several committee members who expressed concerns that the city relies too heavily on property taxes for income.
“We need some different stable forms of revenue,” she said.
Budget Committee Chairman Bruce Mulligan agreed.
“Living on property taxes is not the way to survive,” he said.
Taylor’s proposal included measures to contain costs, such as a 1 percent salary adjustment for employee groups without bargaining contracts and no increase in the Oregon Public Employees Retirement System rate. He added that costs are also being kept down by the retirement of city employees, saying that other solutions will have to be found in future years.
Taylor also stressed that the city is working on finding ways to reduce costs by “working smarter” and making better use of technology.
Taylor said the budget proposal does not solve issues relating to expanding staff levels at Fire Station 9 on Goodpasture Island Road to include a permanent crew and increasing police patrols and special teams. He also said the budget does not account for the expiration of a local option levy providing money to the Eugene Public Library, nor the maintenance of recently added parks and open spaces.
Mulligan said the budget allocated funding based on spending priorities identified by the committee over the past few years, such as preserving public safety, transportation and general livability in the city.
“By and large, that’s what this budget reflects,” Mulligan said.
Ward 7 City Councilor Scott Meisner asked whether the budget included increased funding to allow municipal courts to deal with growing case logs that may result from a reduction in charges prosecuted by the Lane County District Attorney’s Office starting May 1. Taylor said the budget doesn’t include money for the courts, but that city staff will monitor the county budget process and present proposals for funding the city courts as needed.
The Budget Committee’s next meeting will be May 3.