Lane County Commissioners are avoiding potential budget cuts to the sheriff’s office and other public safety needs by pulling from reserves.
That’s the decision that came out of the commission’s meeting Tuesday afternoon, passing on a 4-1 vote.
The county’s original plan to close its pending shortfall was to use lodging taxes. The proposal would have used $4.8 million in lodging taxes to fund rural patrol for two years and $1.7 million to cover courthouse improvements.
But commissioners changed course after pushback from the tourism industry.
Instead, commissioners agreed to fund rural patrol for just one year, about $1.9 million, and cover the courthouse improvements with reserves.
Commissioner Pat Farr said the pivot is a temporary solution.
“This board understands that we need to fund rural patrol in perpetuity,” Farr said, adding that the commission will be revisiting the issue in the next budget cycle.
But the compromise will still carry some risk, namely causing the county to dip just below its self-imposed 20% reserve minimum. That requirement helps keep borrowing costs low and leaves cash for emergencies.
Commissioners also considered other options, including using a smaller amount of tourist dollars, drawing on road maintenance funds or pulling the entire amount from reserves.
They decided against those options because the road fund is already at risk of depletion, and spending down reserves by a larger amount could put the county at significant financial risk.
Many tourism industry advocates and business owners testified this week that they supported raising their own taxes back in 2022 because they believed it would lead to increased investment in local tourism.
During a budget hearing earlier this month, Brian Obie, a former Eugene mayor and developer behind the 5th Street Market District, said the plan felt like a bait-and-switch.
“I gave you my trust and I really plead for you not to violate it,” Obie said during his testimony.
Samara Phelps, CEO of Travel Lane County, told commissioners the region needs that money for a facility that will attract winter tourists. She said many businesses struggle to make ends meet in the off-season.
To that end, her organization is working on a proposal to build an indoor sports facility.
“Redirecting any portion of that revenue reduces the likelihood that this infrastructure gap will ever fully close,” Phelps said.
South Eugene District Commissioner Laurie Trieger was the only dissenting vote on the change. She said lawmakers this past session gave local governments an opportunity to address these kinds of gaps by changing the rules on transient lodging taxes.
Specifically, the new law allows local governments to use more of their funds to pay for basic services and cover the impact of tourism on infrastructure or public safety.
“I cannot in good conscience let communities go wanting and risk our own financial stability as an organization and let that money go,” Trieger said.
Both she and the county administrator Steve Mokrohisky noted that the county is still spending roughly $12 million on tourism promotion in the budget. The funds under discussion are also only a portion of the money raised from the 2022 increase.
Though there was some disagreement over how to fill the gap, commissioners unanimously passed the overall budget for next fiscal year.
