The Eugene City Council is considering whether to move the date of the upcoming fire fee referendum, try some other alternative, or let the election proceed as scheduled.
The fire fee would have allowed the city to close a significant portion of its $11.5 million deficit and avoid wide ranging budget cuts in July. Now, city leaders will have to wait until after the November election to find out whether they can collect the money and restore those services.
The City Council approved the fire fee in February after months of debate over how to address the deficit. A group of petitioners backed by the Eugene Chamber of Commerce gathered enough signatures to place a referendum on the ballot last month.
Lyndsie Leech was one of a few council members during Wednesday’s meeting who asked for more information about moving the election from November to August.
"I'm just really worried that the timing of this is going to cause us to lose a lot of these critical services that make it extremely hard to put it back in place if the vote goes through,” said Leech.
The City Council could also repeal the fee - making an election unnecessary, or do nothing and let the election proceed as planned. Council members could also craft an alternative fire fee proposal that could appear on the same ballot as the referendum.
A few other council members asked to hold a retreat to discuss long-term revenue options and priorities, or to gather more information.
Eugene City Manager Sarah Medary told council members her staff are busy re-writing the budget to make sure it’s done in time before the deadline for the upcoming fiscal year, and it would be challenging for them to provide additional assistance.
Several council members, including Jennifer Yeh, said they would like to hear more from the public before making any decisions.
“I think at the end of the day, no matter what part of the community you’re coming from, whether you're a business leader or you work for a nonprofit or you’re just a regular resident,” Yeh said, “we all want the same goal at the end of the day and how can we figure out how to get there.”
Another work session is scheduled on April 21.
