County Commissioner Fleenor Discusses Forest Funds and LTD

The Siuslaw News - January 9, 2008

At a recent Florence City Club meeting, County Commissioner Bill Fleenor told members that he sees four diminishing possibilities that Lane County will continue to receive the $40 million in federal forest funds, on which the county in the past has based its annual budget.

Fleenor described first of the four possibilities - Congress will approve full funding for four years - as “slim to none and none is missing.” He said he sees the second possibility as “50-50,” the likelihood that $40 million will be provided for one year. He rates the third option, 90 percent for one year, as a little more likely, at “60-40.” He described the fourth possibility: “The most likely is no funding.”

He said that Senators Wyden and Smith and Representative DeFazio are looking for any bill to which they could attach the payment. “But, so far,” Fleenor said, “every effort they’ve tried has failed because of a threatened presidential veto.”

According to Fleenor, what the county needs now is to “wean itself off the $40 million, resize, scale back or what ever term you wish to use.”

“We are going to survive,” Fleenor said. “The question is at what level. What will we look like after the fact? We might as well get started ramping down the county and take a look at what services we can afford.” Fleenor said that the county this year will follow a different process, called a “zero-based” budget.

“You start with no programs and the resources you have,” Fleenor said. “You take the programs and services you have been offering and prioritize them.” He said that this prioritizing will include state- and federal-mandated programs.

“We’re going to look at the unfunded or under-funded mandates,” Fleenor said, “to see if there are higher priority programs, that we should be funding, than the federal government wants us to do at our expense.”

Fleenor said that “other programs are going to have to be put into hiatus until we get over this timber revenue crisis.” He said he would begin by looking for duplication in the county’s 14 departments.

He said he expects the county to find a lot of opportunities to save money by consolidating services within its own organization. “One way to flatten county:’ Fleenor said, “is to get rid of as many middle-level positions as possible.”

Fleenor said that, since the approval of state initiatives that limit the powers of county to levy property taxes, Lane Country has suffered from what he called a “structural deficit.” Property taxes can be raised only 3 percent a year while expenses have been rising 7 percent.

LOCAL TRANSIT DISTRICT
Fleenor said he is optimistic that a local transit district (LTD) will eventually provide transportation between Florence and Eugene.

“I think it’s a matter of convincing the business community that the local community is behind this,” Fleenor said. “If the business community is not behind this, then they are going to do all in their powers to make certain this does not happen.”

In the meantime, Fleenor said he thinks that a pilot project would be a good first step toward establishing an LTD. “We would like to see a pilot project,” Fleenor said, “this would cost nothing to the local businesses and prove we have the necessary demographics to provide the ridership.”

Fleenor said that instead of large-scale buses the project could, start with smaller vans. He expressed confidence that the community can raise the funds to qualify for matching funds for the project. “With half a million dollars’ Fleenor said, “we might be able to do something, or maybe half that for half a year.” He said that a successful pilot project should convince business and public officials that the community would support an LTD.

Fleenor said that one of the factors to be considered thinking about an LTD is that the perimeters might extend 2 miles on either side of the proposed transit corridor. He pointed out that, when it came to a vote on establishing the district, everyone within that corridor would ‘be eligible to vote. The city club meets the first and third Fridays at noon Ocean Dunes Golf Links, at 3345 Munsel Lake Road. in Florence. Visitors are welcome.