LET TERS
ABUSE OF POWER
The “Neighborhood Groups Exonerat-
ed” news brief Jan. 31 accurately reported
how City Councilor Chris Pryor instigated
a formal investigation of neighborhoods’
involvement in a land use appeal without
having any supporting evidence of wrong-
doing, and how the city attorney’s inves-
tigation completely exonerated neighbor-
hood leaders. However, some important
facts weren’t mentioned.
The discussion between Paul Conte,
the lead appellant, and James Spickerman,
the attorney for OBO Enterprises, the
developer, was initiated by an email
from Deputy City Attorney (DCA) Emily
Jerome on March 1, 2012: “I spoke with
Jim Spickerman this morning. He is
interested in considering the terms you
would propose for a possible settlement of
the OBO LUBA appeal. Would you please
send an email describing those terms to Jim
and me? ... I am happy to assist.”
The entire communication between
Spickerman, Jerome and Conte consisted
of the following: March 1 – two emails
from Jerome, one email from Spickerman
and three emails from Conte in response
to the three emails from Jerome and
Spickerman. All three parties were aware
of all six emails. March 7 – An email from
Spickerman to Conte and my response.
Jerome was copied on both.
No agreement was reached, ending the
settlement discussions. Never during the
discussions was there the slightest mention
of illegality or improper actions on
CITY-ZEN JOURNAL
anyone’s part. Then on May 8, Spickerman
sent Jerome an email that attempted to
suborn the DCA into committing libel
and/or slander. Spickerman’s email said:
“I would hope you will not be reticent
BY BONNY BET TMAN MCCORNACK
Bailing Out City Hall
MORE TAX INEQUITIES ARE NOT THE SOLUTION TO SPENDING DILEMNA
T
he rich are getting richer, the poor are getting
poorer and Eugene City Hall is exacerbating
this inequity with two separate money grabs.
Oregon Center for Public Policy’s research
shows that in Oregon the lowest income households
pay the highest share of their incomes to state and local
taxes, and highest income households pay the lowest
share. More than half of Eugene’s 65,631 households
earn less than $50,000 annually, with 21,128 earning
below $25,000.
City Hall’s aggressive “economic development”
philosophy multiplies tax inequities by selectively
granting tax waivers, subsidies, rate reductions and
giveaways to developers, speculators, big business and
corporations. When the entitled few do not pay their
fair share for essential city services, every one else pays
extra to make up the difference.
While middle and lower income workers’ spending
power has steadily declined, the city’s property taxes
have steadily risen. Property taxes comprise 63 percent
of the city’s General Fund (GF), and that revenue has
risen from $70 million in 2008 to $80.3 million in 2012
per the adopted budget. Total GF revenue, only a portion
of city resources, is $167 million in 2012, up from $162
million in 2011’s fi scal year.
From the city’s perspective modest increases are
not enough, so it is proposing two ways to raise more
revenue: A council imposed fee, and a serial tax levy.
Both mechanisms establish a perilous precedent of
removing essential city services out of the GF, and
taxing or charging separately for those services. Don’t
you assume that when you pay your taxes you are paying
4
February 7, 2013 • eugeneweekly.com
to share word of Mr. Conte’s attempted
extortion with others at the city.”
I discovered the role played by the
developer’s attorney only after submitting a
public records request in May, forcing the
city to produce Spickerman’s email. The
discovery meant the city attorney’s offi ce
had the entire email exchange in hand, as
well as Spickerman’s compromising request
to the DCA, and yet neither the city attorney
nor city manager provided City Council this
information when Pryor made his motion.
Two credible witnesses, including
a city councilor who voted for the
investigation, told me that the “extortion”
smear campaign was the work of a few
individuals in the downtown development/
real estate community whose intent was to
weaken neighborhood organizations and
“take Conte out” of the ongoing debate
over the Capstone Multiple-Unit Property
Tax Exemption application.
I provided this information to the city
manager, who apparently did nothing to
investigate or advise councilors of the
potential motivation behind Pryor’s motion.
This whole smear campaign has
been a shameful abuse of offi cial power,
unfortunately tolerated, if not encouraged,
by the city manager and mayor.
Paul Conte
Eugene
for essential government services like public
safety, parks and human services?
Expensive consultants were hired to
survey residents and determine what services
reliable voters cherish most. Then City Hall
ties those favored services to the tracks, and
says “give us more money or else.”
As usual they are holding popular services
hostage in order to increase GF revenue.
What’s new here is that they are removing
essential services from the GF and charging
for them separately, with the fee and levy,
which means the money currently funding
those services is freed up for — whatever. That’s called
backfi lling.
The fi rst tax increasing mechanism is called a fee. City
Hall plans to take Parks and Recreation out of the GF
($4.5 million) and add it to your EWEB bill’s sormwater
management charge, which is already scheduled to
increase 12 percent for 2012. Stormwater charges were
established because piping and conveyance of runoff is a
utility, like wastewater. The new mechanism would add
a $5 per month fl at fee for parks on all EWEB accounts,
or $25 for large commercial.
A fl at fee is one of the most regressive taxing
mechanisms imaginable. A senior living in an apartment
will pay the same fee as a seven-bedroom, fi ve-bath
house with tennis court and pool. Entire multi-unit
complexes will pay one fl at fee. Regional non-Eugene
residents who enjoy Eugene’s parks will pay nothing.
The difference between this fee mechanism and a tax
levy is that taxes are imposed by public vote and have
a fi ve-year expiration date. And they are tax deductible;
fees are not.
The difference between the new fee mechanism
and existing fees is that this one pays for essential city
services historically paid by property taxes. The new
fee mechanism can be imposed, increased
or altered by a simple majority vote of
the current council and any council in the
future. There is no expiration date.
In the 2012 budget, fees and charges for
service raised $143.4 million for the city,
which is a 6.2 percent increase from 2011.
Once the precedent of using this new
fee mechanism is established, they will
never give it up. It provides an unlimited
source of new revenue. You may as well
give City Hall the password to your bank
account.
The second revenue raiser is a fi ve-year
$3.6 million serial levy for the May ballot appearing
beside the county’s jail tax, and possibly school levies or
bonds. So far the city has discussed tying human services,
fi re and EMS, library and economic development to the
tracks. When this article was written, specifi cs weren’t
available despite the public hearing being less than 24
hours away. As usual, the threatened mayhem will surely
be targeted to alarm conservatives and liberals alike.
If the fee goes unchallenged and the serial levy is
approved by voters, City Hall’s take-home message will
be that Eugene residents don’t mind being continuously
squeezed and extorted for persistent gaps in City Hall’s
resources vs. spending dilemma. I have scrutinized
enough city budgets to know there is waste, deadwood
and too many giveaways. Maybe if the public refuses to
repeatedly bail them out, City Hall will get motivated to
pursue crucial tax reforms here at home, and statewide.
Bonny Bettman McCornack is a retired register nurse, former Eugene Ward
1 city councilor and longtime progressive city and neighborhood activist.