PAGE A6, KEIZERTIMES, MAY 15, 2015
BUDGET,
continued from Page A1
looks like you’re asking for
$16,500,” Gillis said, getting an
affi rmative response from Diek-
er. “But on the request form,
it’s a great deal more than that.
What am I missing?”
Dieker said the addendum
was “the more serious piece,”
thus the request for $28,000.
Tim Wood, assistant control-
ler for Keizer, helped decipher
the request on May 8.
“The original budget request
received in March (from the
chamber) was for $16,500,” he
said. “The city included $2,500
in the FY2015-16 budget, the
same amount that was in the
adopted budget for FY 14-15.
The addendum was a further
refi nement of their original
budget request, replacing what
was previously asked for.”
Wood added the budget
meeting was the fi rst time the
addendum had been shown to
anyone at the city.
“I believe it was new infor-
mation for everyone,” he said.
Councilor Dennis Koho
noted during the meeting he
was trying to understand things.
“I get confused most every
year by chamber requests,” he
said. “We often get things last
minute. This may be a good
idea. I just wonder if we have it
backward. The chamber comes
to us with a good thing to spend
tax money on, rather than the
city saying we have some needs.
I want to see us turn it back
around somehow, where the
city identifi es what we can use
the help of the chamber for.”
Dieker explained how an
increase in TOT dollars would
benefi t tourism strategies, but
was interrupted by Gillis.
“Is that a question for this
meeting? If I understand, the
TOT increase is more reaching
than this committee,” said Gillis,
seeing nods of yes.
Later in the meeting, Char-
lotte Clark expressed surprise at
the request.
“I’ve never heard of a town
where the chamber got funded
by the city,” she said. “I thought
a chamber was always funded by
the local business community.
To see them request a lot, I was
quite shocked.”
No motion was made on the
chamber’s request. At the fi nal
budget meeting on Tuesday, the
amount given to the chamber
was lowered to $1,500.
The future of the Event
Center Coordinator position,
added in January 2014, was also
discussed at length. The recom-
mendation made to the Budget
Committee was to continue the
position as limited duration for
the next fi scal year, then reeval-
uate the status.
“The overall projection of
$100,000 in rental revenue has
been fairly consistent the last
two or three years,” Wood said.
However, being consistent
wasn’t enough for some.
“My recall is we expected
a larger increase in the events
center than we got,” David
Dempster said. “If I’m correct,
what happened?”
City Manager Chris Eppley
said that memory was correct.
“We were expecting to see
more usage,” Eppley said. “We’re
still getting our feet under us as
far as a business center. What we
gained was better service for
the activities we have, which
is valuable. We didn’t focus as
much on the marketing piece,
which we still have to work on.”
Like Dempster, Koho had
concerns about the numbers.
“With this position, we bud-
geted revenue to move from
$98,000 to $170,000,” Koho
said. “We spent $31,000 on
this position. We made a jump
of $1,700 in revenue with that
jump of $31,000. I’m not sure
it’s proving itself fi nancially.”
Eppley emphasized the in-
creased level of service for those
using the event center.
“We will always have to feed
a certain amount (into the cen-
ter) from the general fund,” he
said. “The question becomes,
is that OK? It brings people to
this community and helps fi ll
the hotel. There’s a spin off ben-
efi t to businesses.”
Bersin pointed out the cur-
rent pricing strategy will make it
hard to increase revenues much,
in part because state agencies
take advantage of “Tightwad
Tuesday” special pricing.
“If we want that position, we
have to get more revenue,” Ber-
sin said. “If we want more rev-
enue, it’s time to raise the fees.”
Eppley said such a proposal
will be given to the city council
soon.
Mayor Cathy Clark doesn’t
want to see the position go
away.
“As long as we bring clients
in, we will need to maintain it,”
Clark said.
Bersin said he’s not opposed
to keeping the position as lim-
ited duration for another year.
“In the next year, we need to
prove the need,” he said. “This
position needs to create rev-
enue.”
Lore Christopher suggested
allowing Kristian Bouvier, who
holds the position, to do more
marketing.
“I think we should give
$5,000 for marketing,” Chris-
topher said. “We need to chal-
lenge Kristian to come up with
a plan to market that space and
we need to aggressively market
that. We need to give her the
tools. And we’ve got to get on
the government agencies who
are taking advantage of the
low rates. That program was
designed for local non-profi ts
with a $20,000 total budget, not
state agencies.”
Councilor Amy Ripp agreed
with the marketing idea.
“Kristian has done so much
with so little,” Ripp said. “She’s
done a lot without funding and
support. Maybe start with a
number like $5,000. I think the
numbers will come to fruition.”
A motion was approved to
increase the marketing amount
to $5,000.
Park operations was the last
section discussed during the
meeting. Bersin recalled how
Richard Walsh, a Parks Board
member, had asked for $4,000
more in matching grant pro-
gram funds at the May 5 budget
meeting.
That led to committee
members looking at various line
items, seeking places to get the
$4,000 from until city councilor
Dennis Koho suggested taking
$5,000 out of the $75,000 line
item for contractual services,
which pays for temporary help.
“Then there could be a re-
duction in the level of service
for other parks,” cautioned Bill
Lawyer, Public Works director
for Keizer.
Koho didn’t seem fazed.
“I have confi dence staff can
do it,” Koho replied.
Mayor Clark was against the
idea.
“One thing we get criticized
for is we don’t maintain the
parks,” she said. “This line item
is for temporary labor. We have
more park properties now. It’s
important in my book to keep
parks maintained, so I’m a no
(vote).”
Councilor Roland Herrera
took a contrary view.
“The grant program is le-
veraging money there,” Herrera
said. “I really believe it’s more
effective to use that money in
the parks grant program.”
Christopher agreed.
“If we put that money into
leveraging, we’ll get two to
three times the amount,” the
former mayor said. “I agree
with councilor Herrera. The
money is better spent there.”
Jerry McGee noted the
matching grant program started
this fi scal year and thus sug-
gested watching the program
for another year before putting
more funds into it.
“I want to see more of a
history of this grant program,”
McGee said. “I want to see ac-
countability.”
Councilor Marlene Quinn
agreed with McGee, but Bersin
didn’t.
“The city made a commit-
ment to the matching grant
program until we get a sense
it’s not being used successfully,”
Bersin said. “One thing the city
does that touches the most peo-
ple is the parks. It’s what brings
people to live in the city.”
Small amounts lead
to bigger discussions
By CRAIG MURPHY
Of the Keizertimes
In a city budget of $38 mil-
lion, some of the most spirited
debate among Keizer Budget
Committee members revolved
around a $1,200 item.
The Budget Committee met
for a fi nal time Tuesday, approv-
ing a city budget. Keizer City
Councilors are expected to vote
on the budget June 1.
Councilor Amy Ripp pro-
posed adding $1,200 to the
Keizer Community Library, to
help with a rent increase in the
Keizer Heritage Center, thus
giving the library $8,600 total.
Ron Bersin and Lore Chris-
topher expressed disapproval.
“I want them to keep sup-
porting themselves,” Christo-
pher said. “They can sustain that
$1,200 increase. They will be
fi ne.”
Mayor Cathy Clark said fears
of the increase becoming a pat-
tern are unfounded.
“The increase is in large part
going from a volunteer doing
maintenance on the building
to a part-time person doing the
maintenance,” Clark said.
David Dempster liked the
idea of the $1,200 addition.
“For the $1,200 that’s prob-
ably the best bang for the buck
in the budget, better than the
parks (matching grant) pro-
gram,” Dempster said. “People
coming in and using those li-
brary computers have no other
access.”
The vote on Ripp’s motion
was 6-6, with Dennis Koho and
Brandon Smith absent. Due to
the tie, the motion failed.
In other business May 12:
• There is now more money
for marketing the Keizer Com-
munity Center. Previously the
marketing budget had been in-
creased from $1,500 to $5,000,
with that $3,500 increase com-
ing from a contingency fund.
An additional $1,000 was ap-
proved on Tuesday. The money
came out of the $2,500 previ-
ously allotted to the Keizer
Chamber of Commerce. That
means the city is giving the
chamber $1,500.
Christopher suggested the
movement of the $1,000, not-
ing $1,200 allocated for the
chamber last year for an event
wasn’t used.
“We didn’t spend it, so why
put it back in again?” Christo-
pher asked rhetorically. “Not to
take that away, but instead let’s
move $1,000 into the commu-
nity center. Kristian (Bouvier)
can work with whatever part-
ners.”
The motion was approved
unanimously.
• The Urban Renewal Agen-
cy budget was also approved
unanimously on Tuesday.
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One of Keizer’s most beloved teachers has
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