'Modest’ budget proposal
focuses on public services
The $375.6 million budget allocates about
$50 million for police and fire services
By Parker Howell
News Reporter
Eugene won't face significant reductions to its pub
lic 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 be
fore 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 expendi
tures in other departments. The proposal also in
cludes 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 Bud
get Committee and council made over the last few
years," Taylor said.
Taylor called the plan a "very modest budget pro
posal, " warning the committee that future cuts may
be around the corner. He advised committee mem
bers that rising personnel costs and inflation may ne
cessitate service reductions for the 2006-07 fiscal year,
urging them to continue their "tradition of fiscal dis
cipline" 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. Per
sonnel 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 var
ious department budgets. It gave $370,100 to the
I
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 tax
es next year, from about $1,442 to $1,472.
Ward 2 City Councilor Betty Taylor was one of
several committee members who expressed con
cerns that the city relies too heavily on property tax
es for income.
"We need some different stable forms of rev
enue," she said.
Budget Committee Chairman Bmce Mulligan agreed.
"Living on property taxes is not the way to sur
vive," he said.
Taylor's proposal included measures to contain
costs, such as a 1 percent salary adjustment for em
ployee groups without bargaining contracts and no
increase in the Oregon Public Employees Retire
ment System rate. He added that costs are also be
ing 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 find
ing ways to reduce costs by "working smarter" and
making better use of technology.
Taylor said the budget proposal does not solve is
sues relating to expanding staff levels at Fire Station
9 on Goodpasture Island Road to include a perma
nent 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 mon
ey to the Eugene Public Library, nor the mainte
nance 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 safe
ty, transportation and general livability in die city.
Turn to CITY, page 4
LANE COUNTY
continued from page 1
jail time and are tried in city courts.
Among the drug-related crimes that
won't be prosecuted are some involving
marijuana. Harderoad said manufacturers
and mid-level and above dealers of sub
stantive quantities of marijuana will still be
prosecuted, but people who possess or sell
small amounts of marijuana won't be
brought to court unless the chaiges against
them are violations prosecuted by the dty.
"We will have no ability to prosecute
those cases," Harderoad said.
Harderoad said his staff currently
works about 48,000 hours annually and
must deal with around 8,000 cases,
leaving only six hours per case if each
case was to be prosecuted. Under such
strict time constraints, Harderoad said
it would be impossible for attorneys to
deal with cases involving severe crimes.
'The message here is that I've got 1,000
to 1,500 cases that blow the six hour figure
right out of the water," Harderoad said.
Sgt. Pete Deshpande, a detective with
the Eugene Police Department's Property
Crimes Unit said his unit will be affected
by the reduction in the number of prose
cuted cases. Property crimes, especially
those dassified as misdemeanors, are the
largest number of crimes committed na
tionally, Deshpande said. He said despite
the reduction in cases that will be
prosecuted, police officers will maintain
their normal operations.
"We're going to continue to do our
jobs fully," he said.
However, Deshpande said many theft
cases will have to be handled by munici
pal courts, which may result in "tremen
dous backlog and delays."
Deshpande also said victims of prop
erty crimes may not feel a sense of justice
if the crimes committed against them go
unpunished.
"The sense of violation (victims) feel,
the sense of intrusion they feel after
they've been broken into, is a very real
thing," he said. "If these cuts actually take
place, it's going to be a very sad thing for
the community."
Department of Public Safety Interim
Director Thomas Hicks said it is unclear
how the cuts would affect DPS. He said
most charges in cases involving DPS are
handled by the Eugene Police Depart
ment, which actually makes the arrests.
"We're not exactly sure what the impact
is going to be with us," Hicks said.
He said certain services provided at the
county level, such as mental health
counseling, may not be available to those
convicted of crimes at the city level.
"I certainly think it's important that
the citizenry recognize all the services
offered through the Lane County Dis
trict Attorney's Office that are in jeop
ardy," he said.
Contact the city/state politics reporter
atparkerhowell@dailyemerald.com.
CAMPUS
Tuesday
Human Resources Workshop entitled "Immigration Regulations Related to International Scholars and Faculty,"
EMU Alsea/Coquille rooms, 10 a.m.-noon, preregistration required.
Employee Awards Reception, Alumni Lounge, Gerlinger Hall, 3:30-5 p.m. University President Dave Frohnmayer
will speak at 4 p.m.
Kevin Cohen, founder of Bene Gourmet Pizza, will give a talk entitled "Starting and Running a Green Business"
Lillis 232,6-7:30 p.m.
“Race: The Power of An Illusion" series, EMU Ben Linder Room, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
"Islam in America” series, Browsing Room Knight Library, 7 p.m.
Community Conversations: Nanotechnology, Dunn Hall Lounge, Hamilton Complex, 7:30-9 p.m.
Paul Taylor 2 Dance Concert, Dougherty Dance Theater, Gerlinger Annex, 8 p.m.
BALLROOM
10AM -3PM
Career Center
220 Hendricks Hall • (541) 346-3235
http://uocareer.uoregon.edu
O