City of Eugene’s Budget Process
Time: Noon to 1:15 pm
Venue: WOW Hall
291 West 8th
Eugene, Oregon
97401
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We will meet at the WOW Hall, 291 W 8th. Learn more: https://wowhall.org/about-us/. Walk, ride a bike or take the bus. You may park on the street or in the parking lot of FOOD for Lane County's Dining Room, across 8th from the WOW Hall. A freewill donation acknowledging the Dining Room's generosity may be made at the meeting.
Lunch will be available for $15.
Topic:
This has been a year of local headlines about troubles with the Eugene city budget. Eugene is not alone with these challenges. Municipalities across the state are experiencing similar if not more dire financial situations. Today we are going to hear from three people who have been intimately involved with the challenges faced in developing the city budget.
In February the Eugene City Council adopted a fire service fee to help narrow an $11.5 million dollar gap in the city budget. By April a referendum petition spearheaded by the Eugene Chamber of Commerce had successfully gathered more than 8,400 signatures to place the proposed fire fee on the ballot for a public vote. Less than 6,000 signatures were required. Word spread quickly about the fire fee being on a ballot.
There was some confusion as to when that might happen and what the City Council might do, or not do, to address the increasing dissatisfaction from residents faced with threatened cuts in critical public-facing services such as the Greenhill Animal Shelter contract, swimming pools and community centers and many other services. In May the City Council adopted a stormwater fee increase purportedly to replace the fire service fee. At that point both the referendum on the fire fee and an increase in stormwater fees were moving forward.
It was not until July that the City Council repealed the fire service fee, negating the need for a November 2025 vote on the referendum. Instead, an ad hoc committee will be working on long-term financial solutions to these budget woes.
Please join us on Friday. It’s an opportunity to hear from individuals who have been involved with the city budget process for many years; what the process looks like to them, what works, what doesn’t work, and hopefully any suggestions they may have about how the budget process might be improved.
Everyone is welcome.
Speakers
Title: Eugene City Councilor
Organization: Eugene City Council
Website:
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Mike is the father of two wonderful grown kids. A graduate of the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science. A mortgage loan officer for Directors Mortgage. A past board member of several local non-profits. And is in his 19th year on the Eugene City Council, first elected in 2006 after 2 years as a citizen member of the Eugene Budget Committee.
Title: Citizen
Organization:
Website:
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Tai served seven years on the City of Eugene Budget Committee, including four years as Chair, until terming off after shepherding the very difficult 2025 Budget Cycle to its conclusion. He also volunteers for numerous other community organizations. Currently he serves as co-chair of the Active Bethel Community neighborhood association. He is a nonprofit board member at both WellMama and the Jewish Federation of Lane County. He is also on the Bethel School District’s long range planning committee and the Square One Villages finance committee. Beyond his community service Tai is a stay-at-home dad to a newly minted kindergartener, and he moonlights as a chess statistician. His professional background was in accounting. Furthermore he has recently filed to run for City Council in Eugene’s Ward 6 and looks forward to continuing to serve the community however he can for many years to come.
Title: CEO
Organization: Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce
Website: https://www.eugenechamber.com/
Biography:
Biographies are provided by the panelists and edited for length/proofreading
Brittany Quick-Warner is the President & CEO of the Eugene Area Chamber of Commerce, where she leads efforts to strengthen the region’s economy through bold initiatives in economic development, housing, workforce development, downtown revitalization, and civic leadership. She recently spearheaded Elevate 2028, raising $5 million to implement the ambitious regional economic development initiative, and co-founded A.C.T. Now Lane, a cross-sector coalition working to make homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring in Lane County. Brittany is known for her tenacity, her big ideas and for bringing people together across sectors to solve complex challenges and advocate for smart, business-friendly policy. A champion for women in leadership and a proud mom to a sweet 1-year old baby boy, Brittany is passionate about building a stronger, more prosperous future for Eugene. She is a recipient of a City Club Turtle Award.
