HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/14/2005 Work Session
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City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14,2005
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Room, 225 Fifth
Street, Springfield, Oregon, on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 5:32 p.m., with Mayor Leiken
presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Leiken and Councilors Ballew, Fitch, Ralston, Lundberg (5:47 p.m.),
Woodrow, and Pishioneri (5:48 p.m.). Also present were City Manager Mike Kelly, Assistant
City Manager Cynthia Pappas, City Attorney Joe Leahy, City Recorder Amy Sowa and members
of the staff.
1. Report from Jail Operations Funding Task Force.
Finance Director Bob Duey presented the staff report On this item. The Mayor appointed a task
force in May of 2005 to identify and study possible funding options available to the city for
securing sufficient operating funds for the planned municipal jail. The task force has been
meeting on this subject since that time and has prepared a report for council's consideration. A
presentation on the report will be made by the task force chairperson, Roxie Cuellar.
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Mr. Duey introduced Chair ofthe committee Roxie Cuellar who would be presenting the report.
He also introduced Cecil Saxton, a member of the committee. Mr. Duey discussed the schedule
the committee had held in looking at this issue since they were formed in late May 2005. The
committee had worked very hard to come up with a recommendation. He said no decision by
council was needed at tonight's meeting.
Ms. Cuellar thanked Mr. Duey for all of the work he did for the committee. She said the position
of the committee was to have the jail itself produce as much revenue for the operation of the jail
as possible to reduce any burden on the taxpayers. The first idea was to charge residents of the
jail for such things as booking fees, per diem fees, extra fines that would be recovered, charges
for privileges such as phone and commissary, and technological fees for everyone other than
those with minor infractions such as speeding tickets. She said the committee would like those
charges to be imposed by the court, so if the fees were not paid, the person would face jail time.
The committee felt the recovery amount could be greater in that case.
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Ms. Cuellar said One of the members had called today and had not seen in the report the
committee's recommendation to eliminate the contract with Lane County for seven beds. She
said the committee did discuss that and it was one of their recommendations. She said the
committee recommended that the city rent out 25 beds to other jurisdictions to bring in revenue.
She said the Political Action Committee (pAC) had noted the $l.2M in lost revenue due to the
failure to appear. She said the assumption would be that those failures to appear would be
reduced freeing up some staff time. She discussed the staffing issue and that there could be
savings in that area that could be transferred to the jail operations. She said the committee
looked at privatization of the jail, but there was nO clear advantage regarding this option. She
also noted that there was currently a state statute that all guards and officers in the jail be public
employees so that eliminated the private option.
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Council Work Session Minutes
November 14,2005
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Ms. Cuellar said the residents of Springfield would have to come up with some additional funds
and they looked at what funding source they could recommend. She said the committee wanted
it to be broadbased, not targeted to one group. She said the committee looked at three funding
sources. The one that received support from all the committee was the personal income tax. She
said the committee had talked about combining that with business fees, without the council
needing to going out to voters. They didn't want it to be too high to discourage local businesses
from staying in Springfield or discourage new businesses from coming to Springfield. There
was recognition that businesses also benefit from the jail. She said the committee highly
recommended that such a tax be done through a Charter amendment. She said doing a Charter
amendment did not get a lot of support, but she said they felt it was due to lack of knowledge of
what it would do. She said people wanted funds dedicated in some way and they wanted a limit
that couldn't be changed with the people's vote. The committee felt a Charter amendment was
the best way to do that regarding a personal income tax. She said the committee also discussed
combining the Police Levy with funding for jail operations. Springfield had been very generous
to public safety, but there could be a point where it would end. She said ifthe jail operations
could be combined with the police levy and the personal tax could be put out for one year, there
wouldn't be a need to go out for the levy again. She said there seemed to be support of
combining those.
Mayor Leiken asked how many people were surveyed.
Mr. Duey said about four hundred.
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Ms. Cuellar referred to the results listed On page 17 of the Springfield Public Safety Survey
Report. She said for just police renewal of the levy there was 27 percent support; just for
staffing ajail there was 2 percent support; for support of both the police and jail there was 44
percent support.
Councilor Fitch asked about the amount of the income tax per Springfield resident.
Mr. Duey said there were three different ways to impose the tax, which they would look at more
closely. He explained the different ways the tax would be calculated. He said an example of
using the adjusted gross income would be about Y2 of 1 percent.
Ms. Cuellar gave an example that someOne with $50,000 adjusted gross income would pay about
$250.
Mr. Duey said it would be a deduction from your federal taxes.
Councilor Ballew said a portion of the population would benefit without paying anything. She
said this was a whole society issue.
J Ms. Cuellar discussed the electrical and natural gas surcharge. She said it was the broadest
based and included both businesses and homes. It would be progressive in that larger businesses
and larger homes would pay more because they would be using more power. She said a COncern
was that the citizens would compare it to the recent Utility Tax which failed. She said it was not
the same thing, but it could sound like it. She said the percentage, which was higher, would
make it difficult to gain support from the public.
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Councilor Fitch asked if the Y2 of 1 percent was just to fund the jail.
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November 14, 2005
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Mr. Duey said that was correct.
Councilor Fitch asked what the percentage would be if the police levy was added.
Mr. Duey said it would be closer to 1 percent.
Councilor Fitch asked what percentage of the city's tax base was non-residential. She said if
something could be done with businesses also, so it was split more evenly, it would make sense.
Ms. Cuellar said a business license fee could raise as much as $250,000. She said the committee
worked under the worse case scenario in which case they would need to raise about $2.4M, but
depending On how many of the options council chose that brought revenue in from the jail, it was
estimated that could bring in $l.4M. The jail operations could be half paid for by those the jail
serves which would bring it down to $lM. She said the committee did consider corporate tax,
but didn't want to discourage business from coming to Springfield.
Councilor Ballew said the business and corporate were needed. She said the broadest base
possible was best because the jail would benefit everyone.
Ms. Cuellar said the committee also looked at property tax. The committee agreed that would be
brought to council as an alternative.
Councilor Ballew said the survey results didn't show anything that ranked over 50 percent. She
said if that was truly reflective of people's opinions, any measure might be in vain.
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Ms. Cuellar said she didn't think so. She said people wanted a jail and the highest number of
support was for the police levy and the jail combined. She said one thing that happened was that
people did not understand the option of the Charter amendment. If people knew they could
dedicate funds to the jail with a Charter amendment, there could be support. She said the public
needed to be educated by those in the community who wanted the jail and reminded of why they
voted to build the jail. She said they needed to assure the public that the costs would be kept as
low as possible.
Mayor Leiken asked what the typical stay of a prisoner was in a municipal jail.
Chief Smith said it was hard to measure because currently it was almost nothing. The most one
would serve for a misdemeanor would be one year and the least would be One day. The jail
would give credibility back to the court and could require the bail be posted on the front end.
Ms. Knapel said there was no record of what would happen because the space hadn't been
available. She said the judges anticipated 30-90 day stays in the municipal jail. She said that
discussion would come back to council On November 28th.
Councilor Ralston said he would like it spread as evenly as possible. He said he had a hard time
approving an income tax. He asked if they would levy a tax On those that worked in Springfield
or those that lived in Springfield.
Mr. Duey said it could be set up either way.
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November 14,2005
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Councilor Ralston said there were too many variables. He said property taxes were easiest to use
because everyone would share. He felt it would be difficult to identify who would pay the
income tax.
Ms. Cuellar said the difficulty with a property tax levy would be the need to go out every four
years. The jail would be built and would need funds to operate it, and yet would be reliant On a
levy passing every four years. She said some of the committee felt that if Springfield was going
to build a jail, there was an obligation to the taxpayers to come up with a funding source that
went beyond four years.
Councilor Ballew said if people supported something they would vote for it. She said she was
not afraid to give the voters the opportunity to continue supporting something if they felt it was
worthwhile.
Mr. Duey introduced Bob Schroeter, Diana Garcia and Steve Moe, three additional members
from the Task Force who had joined the audience. Mr. Duey said the operating costs for the jail
could be anywhere from $2.4M to $2.9M based on the staffmg levels. He said if the staffing was
lower and there was good collection on the fees, the best case scenario could be as low as 42
cents on property taxes. The high end could be up to 80 cents. He said currently the police levy
is 66 cents, but would go to about 70 or 75 in 2006 to renew it. He also noted the fire and life
safety levy that would come to voters in 2006 which would be about 42 cents.
Councilor Ralston said in comparing income tax and property tax, property tax would spread
things out more and would cost each person less.
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Councilor Fitch said she would like to give the county two beds at the municipal jail and the city
could get two beds at the Lane County facility for female inmates.
Ms. Cuellar said the Chief had said trading could be an option.
Councilor Fitch said she was not in favor of something that was not permanent. She discussed
the issues with compression and putting it On the property taxes. She said having something
broadbased and limited, including a charter amendment if explained and written appropriately,
would be a better option. She said there were still a lot of questions, but it should be considered.
She suggested the personal income tax combined with something for business.
Councilor Woodrow asked about free space and compression.
Mr. Duey said he didn't have the new numbers for this year, but estimated we were in the high
$8 range.
Councilor Woodrow said he agreed it should be broadbased, but he wondered if it would be
feasible to pass an income tax, when it would make Springfield the only city in Oregon with an
income tax. People did vote for the levy and for the bond to build the jail. He said it was
justifiable to remind voters that we couldn't build the jail unless we found funding and the only
way we could fund it would be through a levy.
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Ms. Cuellar said personally she would not suggest that both were On the levy. She said it would
be up to supporters to convince the people that, yes, we may be the only city in Oregon with an
income tax, but Springfield was also the only city in Oregon that voted to build a jail.
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November 14, 2005
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Councilor Ballew said she did not like to dedicate funds because it locked up the money. She
discussed the importance of having the mOney in the General Fund and using it as appropriate.
She said if the money was in the General Fund, it would most likely end up in public safety
anyway.
Councilor Ralston said the more complicated it was, the less likely people were to vote for it. He
referred to the income tax and said it was too complicated.
Councilor Fitch said the businesses in Springfield would pay a business tax and those that lived
in Springfield would pay.
Councilor Woodrow said if it wasn't dedicated it would not stand a chance. The public needed
to know it was dedicated for jail funding.
Councilor Ballew said the fmes and fees should not be dedicated.
Councilor Woodrow said he understood Councilor Ballew not wanting to dedicate the funds, but
felt the citizens wanted to know the money was going to be dedicated to public safety/jail
funding or it would not get passed.
Councilor Ballew clarified that she was discussing fees that might be charged. She understood a
levy for a specific purpose would be dedicated.
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Councilor Woodrow said he would be more in favor of dedicating all the revenue sources
discussed tonight for the operations of the jail.
Discussion was held regarding dedicating funds versus not dedicating funds.
Councilor Fitch said the city's fuel tax was dedicated to road repair. She asked if the committee
had looked at other sources of revenue that would be specific.
Ms. Cuellar said the committee looked at other taxes, but most were targeted for a specific
group. The committee looked at the business side with gross receipts tax, but did not favor that
approach.
Mr. Duey said page 12 of the Task Force Report showed all sources the task force looked at from
the beginning. Through discussions, they came up with the top three, which included income
tax, property tax and the surcharge on the natural gas and electricity. He said the sales tax had
support from several of the committee members, but had failed so many times, they felt it would
not stand a chance.
Mayor Leiken said the only way a sales tax would pass, is if the personal income tax was
eliminated.
Mr. Duey said if council wanted staff to pursue either the property tax or personal income tax,
they could direct staff to do so and staff would bring something back after the first of the year.
He discussed the short timeline if council wanted to put a measure On the May 2006 ballot and
the amount of information that would need to be gathered during that time. He discussed the
education that should take place and possible follow-up polling prior to the election.
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Mayor Leiken asked who collected the income tax.
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November 14,2005
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Mr. Duey said it could be done in several ways. The most common way would be through the
Department of Revenue. Statutes say the IRS had the obligation to collect it On a cost basis. A
consultant had told him that Portland and Albany had offered it as a service where they would be
the administrators, too.
Mayor Leiken asked if there would be a net increase in bureaucracy.
Mr. Duey said it could take One more person in the city, but most of the administration would be
contracted out.
Councilor Ralston said he would prefer to support a joint corporate and personal income tax. He
noted those that lived in Glenwood showed a Eugene address and questioned if that could affect
collection.
Mayor Leiken said there would not be much revenue from a corporate income tax. He gave the
example of the county.
Mr. Duey said there could be other ways to incorporate the business side without going to a
corporate income tax, such as licensing.
Ms. Cuellar said there was a recommendation to put something on the May ballot. She said the
committee also discussed the September 2006 ballot and the issue of jeopardizing the levy
measures On the November ballot.
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Mr. Duey said staff would bring this back during goal setting for further discussion.
Council thanked the committee and staff for all of their hard work.
Discussion was held regarding business licensing and corporate tax.
Mr. Duey said there were several databases of businesses in Springfield.
Councilor Woodrow asked Mr. Olley to find out the administrative costs for a personal income
tax.
2. Community Development Advisory Committee (CDAC) Application Review.
Housing Manager Kevin Ko presented the staff report on this item. Three positions on the
CDAC are scheduled to expire On December 31,2005, due to term expirations of Stuart Gourley
and Patricia Scarci and the resignation of Elizabeth Stubbs. All positions are at-large
appointments. The terms for the three available positions will begin upon appointment by the
Springfield City Council and will continue through December 31, 2009.
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The CDAC consists of six at-large positions from the community, One representative from the
City Council and One representative from the Planning Commission. The CDAC advises the
City Council On all matters related to the city's housing and community development activities
which are funded annually by Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds and HOME
Investment Partnership Program (HOME) funds received from HUD. Applications are
encouraged from lower income earners, residents of lower income neighborhoods, racial and
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November 14, 2005
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ethnic minorities, senior citizens, disabled individuals and female heads of households. All
applicants must live within the city limits of Springfield.
The positions are available as a result of the upcoming term expirations of Stuart "Corky"
Gourley, Patricia Scarci and Elizabeth Stubbs on December 31,2005. The notice of available
positions was posted On October 6, 2005 and applications were being accepted through
November 7,2005. Two qualified applications were received for the three available positions.
Staff is requesting that council review the two applications and make recommendations to fill the
available positions On the CDAC. The recommendations will be presented at a regular meeting
of the council on November 21,2005.
If the council approves the appointments of Ms. Adams and Ms. Lynch, a notice of an available
position On the CDAC will be posted for the fmal open position. Staff was hoping to have all
vacant positions filled prior to the fIrst CDAC meeting at the end of January.
Councilor Fitch said she was very impressed with the two applicants.
Mr. Ko said it was often difficult to get people interested in this committee, in part because it
didn't meet very often.
Discussion was held regarding advertising for these positions.
Councilor Lundberg said the ads in the paper were too dull.
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Councilor Fitch said she hoped they could get a diverse member on this committee. She asked
Mr. Ko to check with Diana Garcia.
Discussion was held regarding better advertising and perhaps a story about the CDAC and
CDBG funds put together by Community Relations Officer Niel Laudati.
Councilor Lundberg said St. Vincent DePaul was able to move forward because of CDBG funds
over the last two years.
Councilor Fitch discussed some other improvements that could be made with the funding, such
as improvements that would assist the handicapped. .
Council consensus was to appoint the two candidates under consideration and to spend additional
funding On advertising.
Mayor Leiken said the city had done a great job in showcasing the big developments and
improvements. Some of the projects that have more of an impact On people's lives should also
be highlighted. He said the city had done a great job utilizing theCDBG funds. There were
good committees that had done good work over the years.
Mr. Ko said he attended a Community Development Manager's meeting in Coeur d'Alene last
month and Springfield's downtown revitalization CDBG was one of the best practices. Mr. Ko .
gave a presentation at that meeting.
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Mayor Leiken asked if he had heard ifthe Housing and Urban Development (HUD)would be
moved to the Department of Commerce.
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November 14,2005
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Mr. Ko said the CDBG would remain through the next year. The impact of the hurricanes On the
national budget may cause some issues. He said the HUD representative was at the conference,
and told them that every city would see a decrease in CDBG funds of nearly 10 percent, which to
Springfield would be about $70,000.
Councilor Lundberg asked if that would affect what was awarded and also the city's
contribution.
Mr. Ko said it would.
Councilor Ralston asked if there was a log of past applicants for different boards, committees
and commissions.
Ms. Sowa said some of those had been tracked and could be provided.
Ms. Pappas also mentioned sending out a notice to all graduates of the Springfield Leadership
program.
(ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:27 pm.
Minutes Recorder - Amy Sowa
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Attest:
Am~~
City Recorder
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