The Eugene City Council has passed the fire safety fee that aims to help close a projected $11.5 million general fund budget gap.
In a split vote at a Feb. 10 work session, councilors voted five to three to pass the fee.
City Councilors Jennifer Yeh, Eliza Kashinsky, Matt Keating, Alan Zelenka, and Lyndsie Leech voted to implement the fee.
“Our Fire EMS is very similar to a utility. It’s something we count on to be there every day,” Yeh said. “It cannot stop working.”
City Councilors Mike Clark, Greg Evans and Randy Groves voted against implementing the fee.
Clark and Groves said they believe the decision to implement the fee should be made by the voters, not the city council.
“I don’t want to see these cuts either. Personally, if this was on a ballot, I would vote for it,” Groves said. “But, this is other people’s money. They should get a chance to weigh in themselves.”
Starting in July 2025, those who occupy developed property within Eugene’s city limits, like a home or building, who pay stormwater fees, will be responsible for paying for the fire safety fee.
The city estimates the new fee will cost property owners or tenants $10 per month for the median single-family home and $38 per month for the median commercial property.
City officials predict the fee will generate $10 million in annual revenue.
Under the now-passed ordinance, the city will reallocate $8 million of the nearly $40 million Eugene-Springfield Fire receives annually from its general fund by replacing it with $10 million in projected revenue from the fee. Currently, the general fund accounts for roughly 67% of the more than $59 million Eugene allocates to the department each year. The department will receive an additional $2 million from the fee to expand fire services in Eugene.
While the fire safety fee will close nearly 70% of the $11.5 million projected general fund deficit, the total city budget gap was not provided upon request by The Daily Emerald.
“As each reporting fund is a separate legal level of budget authority with different requirements, we do not prepare a total projected deficit across all funds,” city spokesperson Caitlin Wallace said in an email.
However, the fire safety fee may not get implemented at all, Clark and City Attorney Kathryn Brotherton said at the meeting. If opponents of the ordinance can successfully obtain the roughly 5,800 signatures required to bring the fee up for a vote within 30 days, voters will decide whether to implement it in an August or November election.
Clark said that petitioners are currently collecting signatures. Once enough signatures are collected, he said the budget cuts and layoffs will become “mandatory instantly” because the city can no longer rely on the fire safety fee funding.
But, in a show of unified urgency, councilors voted unanimously to direct the city manager to prepare a council retreat on long-term budget stabilization strategies, reinforcing the urgent need to resolve the city’s longer-term spending and revenue problems.
