Budget shortage forces Eugene to cut services
■ Existing programs will face
$775,000 in cuts, though city
councilors aren’t sure where
the reductions will come from
By Marty Toohey
Oregon Daily Emerald
The city of Eugene will have to
trim at least $775,000 worth of ex
isting services from next year’s
budget, and possibly as much as
$1.3 million, but city budget com
mittee members aren’t sure yet
where reductions will come.
The city has to cut $375,000
from its general fund due to a
budget shortage. In addition,
$400,000 will be re-allocated to in
crease the city’s Permit and Infor
mation Center budget. The center
provides zoning information and
issues building permits, and cur
rently receives most of its funding
from fees for the building permits.
The center currently doesn’t re
ceive money from the city’s gener
al fund.
City Councilor David Kelly
said the increase to the Permit
and Information Center will be
included in next year’s budget
“with much dismay by the city
council,” because, with the cur
rent economic conditions de
creasing permit purchases, the
added revenue wouldn’t make
enough of a difference.
The city manager’s office, which
is required to present options for
each year’s budget to the city’s
budget committee, has also pro
posed increasing funding to four
other programs, which could bring
cuts to existing programs to $1.3
million.
Kelly and budget committee
member Craig Wanichek said it’s
too early to predict what city pro
grams could have budget cuts. Kel
ly, however, said he’s totally op
posed to a suggested 10 percent
reduction in the Metro and Com
munity Planning Department.
“They plan out the future'of the
city,” Kelly said. “We have less
planners now than we did in 1990,
when we were a smaller commu
nity, and I know how overbur
dened they are.”
The city manager’s office offered
reduction options for all 39 depart
ments receiving money from the
city’s general fund.
Several factors resulted in the
city’s need to trim $375,000 from
its general fund.
First, Qwest Communications
has refused to pay franchise fees to
many Oregon cities this year, in
cluding $1.5 million owed to Eu
gene. Their refusal to pay comes
after a Washington state court
ruled last year that the company
did not have to pay franchise fees
to the city of Renton, Wash.
‘They plan out the future
of the city. ...We have less
planners now than we did
in 1990, when we were a
smaller community, and I
know how overburdened
they are.”
David Kelly
city councilor
An Oregon state court recently
ruled in favor of several Oregon
cities, including Eugene, suing
Qwest for refusing to pay the fran
chise fees. Qwest still might ap
peal, however, and fqr caution’s
sake, the city is creating its budget
as if Qwest will not have to pay.
Also, state Measure 50, which
passed in 1997 and rolled back
property tax rates, has resulted in
less property tax revenue and
caused long-term budget shortfalls
in cities across the state.
Finally, nationwide economic
conditions haye resulted indower
overall property values, which in
turn resulted in less state revenue
from property taxes. The amount
of taxes that property owners pay
on their property is based on its as
sessed value.
Next year will be the first time in
several years that Eugene’s operat
ing costs will increase faster than
revenues, city budget manager Kit
ty Murdoch said.
The city budget committee will
hear a tentative budget proposal
April 15, and that proposal will be
available to the public. The budget
committee will hold meetings
every Monday from April 15 to
May 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the city
council chambers, and will listen
to up to half an hour of public
comment at its meetings.
The city council must approve a
final city budget by July 1.
This year’s general fund is
$113.4 million, and the total city
budget is $326.2 million. Oregon
law requires that all of its local
City budget shortfall
The city of Eugene will have to cut
$375,000 from existing programs in
next years budget, and is
considering moving funds from
existing programs into the following
new ones:
$400,000 for the Permit Information
' Center
$250,000 to cover an expected
Emergency Medical Services Fund
shortfall
$200,000 for drug treatment
programs
$100,000 for a city emergency
planner, who would ensure money
from the city's emergency fund is
used wisely
$30,000 of increased funding to the
Eugene Springfield Metropolitan
Partnership, which recruits
businesses to the area
Source City Budget Committee
governments operate with bal
anced yearly budgets.
E-mail reporter Marty Toohey
at martytoohey@dailyemerald.com.
GIVE US YOUR BOOK LfST.
WE’LL BOX THEM FOR YOU.
UOBOOKSTORE.COM
SPRING EARLY DUCK PROGRAM
ENJOY SPRING BREAK.
YOUR BOOKS WILL BE READY AND WAITING
AT THE UO BOOKSTORE AFTER SPRING BREAK.
NO EXTRA CHARGE.
UNIVERSITY*/ OREGON
BOOKSTORE
All books 10% off EVERYDAY for current UO students, faculty and staff.
Andrea Yates convicted
of murdering children
By Terri Langford
The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON (KRT) — Andrea
Yates, the suburban mother who me
thodically drowned her five children
last summer, and whose attorneys
said she was insane when sher did it,
was convicted of capital murder
Tuesday.
The jury took three hours and 40
minutes to decide that she was guilty
of two counts of capital murder for
the June 20 drownings of Noah, 7,
John, 5, and Mary, 6 months.
The killings of her other two chil
dren, Paul, 3, and Luke, 2, figured
prominently in the case.
Yates, 37, stared straight ahead as
she stood between her two lawyers
for the reading of the verdict by state
District Judge Belinda Hill. After
ward, she glanced at her two broth
ers, Brian and Andrew Kennedy,
and her mother, Jutta Karin
Kennedy, who were seated together
on one side of the courtroom.
On Thursday, the same jurors —
eight women and four men — will
begin considering Yates’ punish
ment. Defense attorneys will call wit
nesses who will try to convince jurors
that Yates should receive life in
prison instead of the death penalty.
“I obviously don’t agree with the
verdict, but it’s my job as a lawyer to
accept it,” said Wendell Odom, one
of Yates’ attorneys. “You catch your
breath and start all over.”
The verdict stunned husband
Russell “Rusty” Yates and his fami
ly. They held hands as the judge
read the jury’s finding of guilty. Rus
sell Yates cried softly “Oh, God,”
and put his head in his hands. He
kept his head there, apparently cry
ing but saying nothing as his wife
was lead from the courtroom.
Yates said little to her attorneys as
they met with her after the verdict.
“She thanked me,” defense attor
ney George Parnham said.
Said Odom: “She’s doing all right.
She’s prepared for this; she’s doing
all right.”
Cyndie Aquilina, a jury consult
ant who assisted Yates’ defense
team in selecting jurors, said she
was shocked at the verdict.
“I don’t know how they got
there,” Aquilina said. “She was
clearly insane.”
In their closing arguments, prose
cutors argued that Yates’ lifelong
drive for perfection — not her men
tal illness — forced her to drown her
five children as a way out of her
overwhelming home life.
“Andrea Yates wanted to be the
perfect mother. Just like you heard
that she wanted to be the perfect
daughter,” prosecutor Joe Owmby
said, summing up his capital mur
der case against the registered
nurse. “And she was driven by this
throughout her life.”
But defense attorneys argued that
Yates was a loving but mentally ill
mother whose psychosis was so se
vere that she drowned her children
because she believed they were
threatened by Satan. They said
Yates was insane at the time of the
drownings and should be acquitted.
In Texas, a person can be found
not guilty by reason of insanity if a
mental illness impairs a defendant’s
ability to tell right from wrong.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
The Oregon Daily Emerald is published
daily Monday through Friday during the school
year and Tuesday and Thursday during the
Summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald
Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon,
Eugene, Oregon.The Emerald operates
independently of the University with offices in
Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The
Emerald is private property. The unlawful
removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law.
NEWSROOM — (541) 346-5511
Editor in chief: Jessica Blanchard
Managing editor: Jeremy Lang
Student Activities: Kara Cogswell, editor. Diane
Huber, Danielle Gillespie, Robin Weber, reporters.
Community: Brook Reinhard, Marty Toohey,
reporters.
Higher Education: LeonTovey, editor.
Eric Martin, Katie Ellis, reporters.
Commentary: Julie Lauderbaugh, editor.
Jacquelyn Lewis, assistant editor Jara
Debenham, Rebecca Newell, Jeff Oliver,
Pat Payne, Aaron Rorick, columnists.
Features/Pulse: John Liebhardt, editor Lisa Toth,
features reporter. Alix Kerl, Jennifer West, Pulse
reporters.
Sports: Adam Jude, editor Jeff Smith, assistant
editor. Chris Cabot, Hank Hager, Peter Hockaday,
reporters.
Freelance: Katie Mayer, editor.
Copy: Jessica Richelderfer, Michael J. Kleckner,
copy chiefs. Clayton Cone, Jessica Davison,
Kathleen Ehli, Lauren Tracy, Liz Werhane,
copyeditors.
Online: Marilyn Rice, editor. Helena Irwandi,
webmaster.
Design: Russell editor. A. Scott Abts,
Heather Gee-Pape, Nick Olmstead, designers.
Steve Baggs, Peter Utsey, illustrators.
Photo: Thomas Patterson, editor. Adam Amato,
Jonathan House, Adam Jones, photographers.
ADVERTISING — (541)346-3712
Becky Merchant, director.
Lisa Wood, sales manager.
Michelle Chan, Jill Hazelbaker, Michael Kirk,
Trevor Kuhn, Lindsay McNamara, Mickey Miles,
Hillary Shultz, Sherry Telford, Chad Verly,
Jeremy Williams, sales representatives. Valisa
Nelson, Van Nguyen, Erin O’Connell, assistants.
CLASSIFIEDS — (5411346-4ffi
Trina Shanaman, manager.
Erin Cooney, Katy Hagert, Amy Richman, Laura
Staples, assistants.
BUSINESS — (541) 346-5512
Judy Riedl, general manager.
Kathy Carbone, business supervisor.
Sarah Goracke, receptionist
John Long, Mike Chen, Dinari Lee, Tyler Graham,
Jeff Neely, distribution.
PRODUCTION — (S41) 346-4381
Michele Ross, manager.
Tara Sloan, coordinator.
Emily Cooke, Matt Graff, Andy Holland, Heather
Jenkins, Marissa Jones, designers.