Oregon daily . _
emerald
Friday, October 1, 1982
Eugene, Oregon
Volume 84, Number 21
Government officials
unite in opposition
to Ballot Measure 3
By Michelle Matassa
Of the Emerald
Ballot Measure 3 came under
the gun Thursday night as a
panel of four local government
officials discussed the effect of
the property tax limitation
measure on their agencies
The panel, consisting of Lane
County Commissioner Scott
Lieuallen, Eugene City Council
member Cynthia Wooten,
Springfield mayor John Lively
and Mike Williams of Eugene
School District 4J. presented its
case against the ballot measure
to the Lane County Democratic
Central Committee
Higher education was not
represented at the meeting but
University professor Carl Hos
ticka, who served as panel
moderator, briefly described the
impact of the measure on state
colleges and universities
Hosticka said $400 million in
revenue cuts will have to come
from somewhere and higher
education is a big part of that
The measure, if passed,
would roll back property values
to 1979 levels and limit annual
property tax increases to 1 Vi
percent of assessed value
Lieuallen said he opposes the
measure not only because of its
potential for destruction but
because of its many defects."
He criticized the proposal s
wording, arguing that it would
be hard to incorporate into the
Oregon Constitution and said it
possessed "terrible inequities "
Because passage of the
proposal would decrease
property values, land which was
improved after 1979 would be
unfairly assessed, Lieuallen
explained
"We do need tax reform in
Oregon Property taxes are high
in Lane County," he said "This
is a terrible way to approach it."
Lively added an unlikely,
r
ironic scenario
Springfield had a total
revenue of almost $20 million in
1979-80, Lively said This figure
has decreased enough by now
that 1979 property values could
actually be a step up the
revenue ladder for his com
munity. he said
Lively admitted a more likely
repercussion of the measure's
success would be cuts in all
services, with police and fire
departments hurt most
Wooten claimed a potential
revenue loss of $16 million for
Eugene if Measure 3 passes
That would result in half of the
city's employees losing their
jobs and the elimination of the
Eugene Economic Develop
ment Program, she said
The development program in
cludes plans for downtown
development, small business
assistance, employee training
and destination point activity''
(to make Eugene into a tourist
destination)
Referring to the proposal s
offer of relief to taxpayers,
Wooten pleaded "I know $300
at the end of the year sounds
good, but the real beneficiaries
of Ballot Measure 3 are the cor
porate property owners and we
will lose again."
Because District 4J depends
on property taxes for 40 percent
of its revenue, it would be "most
heavily hit" by Measure 3,
Lieuallen said
The question of what a
reduction of $10 to 12 million
dollars in revenue means to
school employees and
students?
Williams estimated 400 fewer
jobs, 10 to 15 more students per
class, eliminating electives and
cuts in athletic programs.
"The school board una
nimously opposes it; we re not
unanimous on anything."
Photo by Mark
Romeo rocks, shivers
The dance floor was packed with slammers,
bashers, twisters and the like as Romeo Void blew
the doors off the EMU Ballroom Thursday night.
More than 700 fans of the San Francisco
based band came out to rock, stomp and howl to
some of the most powerful music to shiver the
timbers of staid old EMU.
From their first number, opening act Pun
ishment Farm set the tone for the show — and it
was good rockin’. The Eugene group played a
crowd-pleasing “jazz" version of the Who's “My
Generation ”
Frank Zincavage’s bass and Larry Carter’s
drums really had the ballroom hopping. The
chairs that were set up were soon pushed back as
the dancers had their sway
Romeo Void closed their set with "Never Say
Never." But the ballroom crowd wanted more —
and wouldn’t be denied. They bellowed and
clapped until the band came out for two more
numbers. Romeo Void gave the crowd more —
finishing their Eugene performance with Elvis
Costello’s "Pump It Up.”
It was Void’s third Eugene appearance
Emerald Photo
The University Art Museum will air its rooms and reopen next Monday with an exhibit by international
artist Fritz Scholder.
Museum staff wakes up
to renewed employment
When Richard Paulin, direc
tor of the University's Art Mus
eum, wakes up this morning, he
will do something he hasn’t
been able to do in two months —
he will go to work.
On Monday, Oct. 10, Paulin
will open the museum doors to
the public for the first time since
July 30
Like many Oregonians, Paulin
and the rest of the museum staff
lost their jobs to the economic
recession. When money had to
be cut from the University’s
budget, it was decided the mus
eum should close during
August and September
Today, Paulin and the mus
eum staff will be back at work
dusting off cobwebs and clean
ing up remnants of construction
work which has been going on
since the museum’s closure.
Cleanup and preparation for
exhibits will continue for a little
more than a week.
While the museum may have
looked dormant from the
outside, construction workers
have been busy inside
Paulin says he has been
making the most of his time off.
He has been catching up on his
reading and playing tennis, he
also traveled.
"I did things I was always go
ing to do and never got the time
to do them,” Paulin says.
But this morning, Paulin will
be enjoying the dust, and the
re-opening of the art museum.