CONTACT US

 Bend Chamber
 777 NW Wall St, Ste 200
 Bend, OR 97701

 Phone: (541) 382-3221
 Fax: (541) 385-9929
 info@bendchamber.org
 www.bendchamber.org

Bend Chamber Weekly
March 20, 2009
By Courtney Linville, Communications Coordinator

This Week's Highlights

• City of Bend looks toward budget stability and economic growth

• More cuts and service reductions on the way for City of Bend

• City moves closer to Transportation Utility Fee

• City Council Highlights

• Hot off the Press: Business Journal lowers Advertising Pricing

• Rachael Scdoris Iditarod Update

City of Bend looks toward budget stability and economic growth

     Moving forward in 2009, Bend City officials say they are looking to bring stability back into the budget while also looking towards future economic growth.
     During Thursday’s Bend Chamber City Forecast Breakfast, Mayor Kathie Eckman said it's imperative the city looks at the structural problems within its budget and tries to find financial stability. City Manager Eric King told attendees the structural problems within the budget can go back to Measures 5 and 50 that limited property tax growth to just 3 percent.
     Right now within the city’s general fund budget, 80 percent of the money is going toward police, fire, and the court systems. Other areas funded out of the general fund include transit, community development, accessibility programs, and economic development. King said the council right now is trying to decide how to prioritize services for the future and is looking at ways to increase efficiencies.
     Besides the budget, one of the highest priority areas for the city is economic development. King pointed out Bend needs to be prepared for when the economy turns around. “We don’t want to ignore the future,” he said. “The Bend Airport and Juniper Ridge are two key areas to invest in that have key employment opportunities.”
     At the Bend Airport, the city plans to have a master plan update to determine the needs for infrastructure. The city will also continue to explore the possibility of annexing the airport into the city. “It gives more options for economic development opportunities,” King said.
     Juniper Ridge will continue to move forward as the city works on land entitlements and continues to work out an agreement with the Oregon Department of Transportation about Highway 97 and Cooley Rd.
     While bringing in new businesses to the area, the city also wants to promote economic development amongst businesses that are currently here. “We want to see that those businesses that are here thrive,” King said. “We want to attract new businesses, but we also want a program focusing on business retention.” The city plans to strengthen its relationship with EDCO by exploring funding for a dedicated staff member to act as an ombudsman with the city to coordinate business retention and recruitment. This is something the city of Bend has never done before.
     Looking into other programs and services, the city will continue its work on accessibility and getting curb ramps and bus stops up to code. Another program which is hotly contested around Bend is Bend Area Transit. King said the council will have to make some hard decisions regarding services, but the goal is to eventually get funding for transit out of the general fund. The other political “hot potato” is Mirror Pond. The city plans to create a Mirror Pond Management Group to help manage the project through regional and community partnerships.
     Though the picture wasn’t a rosy one, Eckman said everyone needs to pull together now and think about the future. “If we don’t maintain some of our key services we will not have economic development, and we will not continue to attract businesses needed to provide jobs to this community,” she said.
     Eckman says the city will continue to work on maintaining its current services and will be prepared for the next growth cycle. She says the city has a wonderful future ahead of it.
 

     During the work session Wednesday evening, the City of Bend Budget Committee learned more cuts and reduction in services are on the way to make up for a $3 million budget shortfall. The Budget Committee looked very closely at the General Fund Budget which is comprised of Police, Fire, Transit, Municipal Court, Street Operations, and Community Development.
     Almost every department touched by the general fund will see reduction in funding, staffing, or have unfilled positions left vacant. The Bend Police Department has 5 unfilled positions while the Bend Fire Department has 4 positions unfilled. City Manager Eric King told committee members and Bend City Councilors that the impacts of these positions remaining unfilled will be felt by all. Mostly, response times will increased, special assignments like river and downtown patrols will be modified, and replacement vehicles will be deferred.
     This message didn’t sit well with a lot of committee members who wanted to make sure Police and Fire were adequately funded. However, King was quick to point out, to provide more funding to these areas would require more cuts in other areas. He said the committee would have to look at how to balance that out.
     Another area that will be hard hit is Public Works Street Operations. This department will see reductions in snow removal, elimination of irrigation repairs and tree removal, elimination of the local street safety program, and a reduction in street painting and sign materials.
     City staff told the committee Street Operations has been grossly underfunded for many years and they are looking at other funding options. One such option is the Transportation Utility Fee (TUF) which could generate over $1 million needed for street maintenance projects.
     City staff said there would be no reduction in sanding during 2009-2010, but pointed out the amount of snow plowing would be reduced.
     One of the hardest hit departments in the past year has been Community Development and the trend will continue. Though no exact number was given, more staff reductions are expected to take place as well as a reduction in service hours at the planning counter.
     The city will be looking at increasing building fees, and will hold public hearings within the next few months. Councilor Tom Greene stated he’s very concerned about the fee increases, and believes the committee might have to look at the fees in a different way.
     Above all, councilors and budget committee members agreed the picture for the budget isn’t pretty, but the cuts seem to be spread uniformly. “I don’t think any of them are fun,” said Councilor Mark Capell. “It’s an ugly picture … but the short answer is I don’t see any other approach at this point.”
 

City moves closer to Transportation Utility Fee

     The reality of a transportation utility fee (TUF) to help fund street maintenance is getting closer. Though there is still a lot of work ahead, the Street Maintenance Funding Focus Group told City Councilors and the Budget Committee on Wednesday evening that it recommends the implementation of the fee.
     The Street Maintenance Funding Focus Group is a ten member committee made up of residents, business owners, and one city councilor. The group looked at several options including a gas tax and decided the TUF was the best way to go at this point.
     About $2.7 million is needed to maintain the current conditions of roads in Bend. However, at this point the city only has about $1.1 million budgeted which leaves a shortfall of $1.6 million. To help maintain the current road conditions, the group stated the TUF fee needed to be used for street maintenance only.
     The group also tried to cast a wide net so no one person or business would be impacted by the fee. Businesses could be looking at anywhere from a $3 to $10 fee per month on their utility bills while residents would have a fee of no more than $3 a month. The fee would be reduced for low/fixed income residents. The group also recommended the fee be introduced sooner rather than later.
     Though there was support for the fee, others on the budget committee were less than thrilled by the idea. They believed it would be unfair to attach the fee to utility bills and have those who aren’t frequent users of city streets charged the same rate as those who do frequently use the streets.
     “You haven’t established a connection between the users of the money that comes from the fees and the payer of the fee by this kind of fixed amount for all houses, whether they use the road to the same extent,” said Councilor Jim Clinton. “This is the kind of thing that government does sometimes because it’s convenient, but it’s philosophically wrong to do that.”
     Clinton believes a local gas tax is needed so drivers would be charged for their use of the streets. Though some committee members liked that idea, they were also worried voters would reject a new tax. Coupled with that, the soonest the city could get a tax measure on the ballot would be November 2010.
     The focus group will continue to work on both options and come back with more information. No final decisions were made on the possible fee by the budget committee.
 

City Council Highlights

     Council holds second reading for Economic Improvement District ordinance: The Economic Improvement District (EID) for Downtown Bend is now in the hands of property owners. The Bend City Council held the second reading of an ordinance that would establish the district. The final decision on the EID will be decided by property owners in May. Many of the Bend City Councilors stated they approved the second reading of the ordinance because landlords still have the opportunity to vote this ordinance down. “I’m worried about government coming down to force businesses to form an association,” said Councilor Jim Clinton. “However, I’m voting in favor of this because there is a safety valve.” If at least 33 percent of property owners vote against the EID ordinance, it will fail. Clinton and several councilors also expressed concerns about the city paying the same assessments as the rest of the downtown area. City staff stated where possible, the city would pay its fair share of the assessments as well.
     City to update building standards and specifications: In a 5-2 vote, the Bend City Council voted to move forward with Phase Two of updating the standards and specifications for new construction. This move will help to modernize all standards and specifications. According to several members of city staff, the current standards and specifications are not clear and have no predictability. “Part of the problem with building and permits etc. has been with the specs,” said City Manager Eric King. “The big thing for me, especially with accessibility, is the need to have predictable processes in place. That is the reason why we have ended up in some of the situations that we have.” Several councilors were concerned with the price tag of Phase Two which is $387,041. Four departments will contribute to the updated standards and specs. These include Water, Water Reclamation, Stormwater, and the Streets Operations Divisions. Councilors questioned if this project could be moved to a few years down the road, but staff was quick to point out the current downtime is the best time to have these updated. The work will be performed by an outside company. “Despite misgivings, I think this is the kind of thing that we need to do,” said Councilor Jim Clinton. “We have come from an era of being a small town, now we are a medium sized town…. In the bigger picture this is what we need to do to bring the city up to a professional level in its business.” Councilors Jeff Eager and Mark Capell voted against the update, citing they would like to see more information.
     Downtown Bend to have updated penalty for skateboarders: It has been an increasing problem, but soon skateboarders, roller-skaters, and those who sled in Downtown Bend could face a penalty. It will be considered a class B civil infraction and violators could face up to a $250 fine plus court costs. City Manager Eric King pointed out the code has always been in place for roller-skating, skateboarding, or sledding in the district, but no fine was ever put into place. The downtown area has experienced some problems with skateboarders, especially those who like to use the plaza as a skate park.
 

     Hot News!! The staff at the Chamber is trying to find every way possible to increase the value of our products and services to you, our members. We have done this in a BIG way with a major pricing restructure of the Business Journal, our monthly newspaper.
     We recognize the importance for you to continue to advertise your business and we also are aware of the tightened budgets out there. With both of these facts in mind, we took our existing prices and tore them apart. We have also done some restructuring of the paper itself. Instead of 5 columns it will now be a 4 column publication and it will all be full color! No more pricing add-ons to have your ad in color.
     The last big change we are making is the back page will now be a calendar that can be torn off and hung on your bulletin board as a reminder of all the different events we hold every month. All these things will be seen for the first time in the upcoming April edition. If you would like to be part of this exciting launch, call Ann Gates today at 382-3221 and she’ll discuss your options.