City of LG looks for ways to boost revenue

With money tight and the forecast calling for continued hard times, the La Grande City Council met Monday night to explore ways to beef up the budget.

In a work session at City Hall, the governing body kicked around more than a dozen revenue-enhancing ideas ranging from installation of parking meters downtown to a local option tax levy.

Some suggestions were rejected outright, others were embraced as “no-brainers” and still more were set aside for further study and review.

Nobody disagreed, though, that the city needs to raise more money.

“Revenues are flat and expenditures are vertical,” said Mayor Colleen Johnson. “It’s not like we’re trying to scrape up money for no good reason.”

City Manager Robert Strope elaborated on the need, saying that in recent times the city has had to eliminate public safety positions, lay off other employees and scale back hours at the library and Veterans Memorial Pool.

“It’s going to take a combination of revenue enhancements and service reductions to get our budget balanced,” Strope said.

The work session was convened to evaluate a list of 13 “revenue enhancement opportunities” compiled by Strope with help from city staff. Some of the ideas were new, while others built on existing revenue sources.

The biggest item presented was a proposed $500,000 local option levy that would increase property taxes by $1.01 per $1,000 of assessed evaluation. The additional money — $500,000 a year —  would be used for capital improvements.

Strope said levy passage would require much public outreach.

‘If successful, it would give us the most dollars to bring to bear on stuff,” Strope said. “It does require voters to

buy in. We’d have to be very specific about what the money would be used for, and what might happen if the money is not available.”

The council reached a consensus that the idea is worth further consideration, though Johnson, for one, expressed doubts that the voters would go for it.

“While I think it’s not likely to pass, I’m open to exploring it as long as we’re clear what the money would be used for,” she said.

System development charges were another possible initiative discussed by the council.

Currently, the city imposes a $525 system development charge per dwelling unit, with the money used for improvements of the city’s parks.

Under the new proposal, other SDCs would be made for  capital improvements in areas like transportation and water and sewer infrastructure. Staff reports say the city could add $400,000 to its budget with the additional SDCs.

Again, the council reached  a  consensus that the idea needs more study. Strope said he sees a need to hire a consultant to provide a clear picture.

“I’d like to get some dollars set aside to explore this,” he said. He added that the issue could be ready for consideration by next year’s budget hearing.

Still another big ticket item considered was annexations to the city’s Urban Growth Boundary. 

Such a move would increase the city’s tax base. A staff report said that annexation of property on the north side of the city could generate $72,000 a year, and annexation of the entire UGB could provide $176,000 in additional revenues.

Strope told the council that the issue is a complex one and urged more discussion.

“This has a lot of moving parts. I think we need to bring it back for a work session,” he said.

 Strope asked the council to place the revenue-enhancing ideas into one of three categories: those that might be brought to the council soon for formal action; those that the council did not want to consider at all; and those that need more study.

The majority of the ideas, including parking meters for downtown, business license fees, water and sewer franchise fees, and others, were placed in the latter category.

Some others, including a 1 percent increase in the transient room tax and fees for temporary liquor licenses and liquor license annual renewals, met with quick approval and are likely to come up for a formal vote in the near future.