The Eugene City Council has approved an alternative to its embattled fire fee - an estimated 18% hike to stormwater fees. The change will allow the city to stave off some, but not all of its planned budget cuts.
The city is facing an $11.5 million shortfall after years of plateauing property taxes, increasing pension costs and high inflation.
Eugene had originally hoped to address that gap with a “fire fee” based on the square footage of buildings - but couldn’t collect it after a group backed by the Eugene Chamber of Commerce referred the proposal to the ballot.
The stormwater fee hike will bring in roughly $4.7 million a year and will allow the city to continue funding animal services, libraries, Amazon Pool and the Sheldon Community Center.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Eugene City Council President Greg Evans said the stormwater plan, which expires after six years, will give the city a chance to find a long-term solution.
“This, to me, is a short-term compromise,” Evans said. “[It] keeps in place a lot of the critical services that we have been hearing about."
According to city documents the average household will pay an extra $3.50 or so each month in stormwater fees. That’s roughly a third of what they would have paid under the fire fee. Commercial building owners will pay more – about $47 a month. Owners of large commercial buildings could pay as much as $670 a month.
Evans was one of several council members who preferred a four year sunset, which is closer to what the Eugene Chamber of Commerce requested for a replacement fee. The majority voted in favor of a six year increase to align with the city’s revenue forecast cycle.
City Manager Sarah Medary has also previously told the council that either a two, or four year sunset, could impact the city’s credit rating, which would lead to higher borrowing costs.
Council members Eliza Kashinsky and Alan Zelenka voted against the stormwater increase, arguing it left far too many budget reductions on the table, including business development and planning services.
“It feels shortsighted to be cutting programs that are going to help us get to that longer-term sustainability,” Kashinsky said.
Cuts to homeless, sustainability, downtown clean-up and other community programs are also still possible.
Medary said the city will need to hold an administrative public hearing, but work the council did last year to expand how stormwater revenues can be used will allow her to roll out the new fee in two to two and half months.
Council members made no decision Wednesday on whether or not to repeal the fire fee. Doing so would remove it from the November ballot. The question will be re-visited before they leave for summer break in July.
The city council is scheduled to adopt its two-year budget June 23. The city’s Budget Committee is currently holding hearings on the proposal.
