EUGENE, Ore. -- The Eugene City Council meets Wednesday at noon to discuss putting an $81.1 million property tax measure on the November ballot.

There are 86 street preservation projects on the list, spanning a projected decade worth of work. The measure would repair more than 150 miles of roads and 7 miles of off-street bike and pedestrian paths. | MAP | LIST | CITY STAFF REPORT

The measure would add an estimated 53 cents per $1,000 of assessed value to the tax bills of Eugene property owners for the next 10 years. For the owner of a home valued at $200,000, that would mean an increase of about $106.

The council meets in a work session at noon Wednesday in the McNutt Room at Eugene City Hall, 777 Pearl St.

The meeting is open to the public, however there is no public comment at work sessions.

The council must act by Aug. 5 to place a bond on the November ballot. The council is scheduled to consider a resolution placing the bond on the ballot at the July 28 meeting. Public comment is allowed at regular council meetings.

The council must decide whether to include unimproved streets in the bond or not.

"Communications related to the bond measure face several challenges," the staff report explains. "As with any property tax measure, the complexity of the issue and the need to write bond measure language in terms that satisfy legal requirements don’t always allow for easy-to-understand explanations. Placing the bond measure in the context of a larger package, some elements of which haven’t yet been fully worked out, is another communications challenge. Voters will also need to understand why the measure doesn’t focus solely on the worst streets (i.e., why preserving streets from further deterioration is a financially prudent investment). Including a number of reconstruction projects in the bond measure will help voters see visible benefit. If
unimproved streets are not included in the bond measure, the message needs to be clear why they are not part of the bond package and what alternate strategies the City has to address those streets."

The city estimates there are 75 miles of unimproved streets in Eugene "with a cost in excess of $90 million to bring those streets up to City standards. This cost is not included in the estimated $173 million backlog of maintenance for improved streets."