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Public urges Eugene council to protect libraries, fund alternative crisis response and form a budget stabilization process
Summary
At the June 23 hearings on the 2023–25 supplemental and the 2025–27 biennial budgets, dozens of residents, business leaders and nonprofit representatives pressed the council to prioritize funding for libraries, Cahoots‑style crisis response, and long‑term fiscal stabilization.
EUGENE, Ore. — Dozens of residents and community leaders used the City Council’s June 23 public hearings to press elected officials to prioritize services they said are essential to daily life in Eugene, including the downtown library, community pools and non‑police crisis response.
Speakers said the city’s budget negotiations had repeatedly put core services at risk and urged the council to adopt sustained revenue and stabilization solutions rather than year‑to‑year cuts.
Why it matters: Many residents told council that immediate budget choices have real impacts — for example, reduced library hours affect literacy and access to free services, and the loss of Cahoots-style mobile crisis response removes a non‑police option for people in crisis. Several speakers urged the council to create a permanent funding source for alternative response and to form a budget stabilization body with operational expertise.
What speakers said - Dana Fleming, executive director of the Eugene Public Library Foundation, thanked the council for reversing some proposed cuts and asked the council to “find a permanent solution to Eugene’s financial crisis and restoring the nearly $3,000,000 in funds cut from this library's general budget.” (speaker name and role used as stated.) - Renee Buchanan, a Ward 8 resident and library advocate, said supporters had submitted more than 100 emails and nearly 2,000 postcards in 2024–25 and asked the council to pass the amended budget with minimal library cuts. She added that a library levy renewal next year could provide dedicated resources. - Several business representatives — including Allison Straub (Burley, CEO) and Eric Parrish (Ward 5, resident and business owner) — urged inclusion of business leaders on a proposed budget stabilization task force to provide budgeting and operational expertise. - Public safety and emergency-services speakers asked for stable funding. Brett Deaton, president of IFF Local 851 (representing Eugene Springfield firefighters and EMS professionals), called for a unified fire district to ensure stable funding and consistent service across jurisdictions. - Multiple speakers urged dedicated, ongoing funding for Cahoots-style non‑police crisis response. Jacob True (Ward 1) recommended increasing a short‑term allocation to $2,200,000 in one‑time funds for roughly one year of alternative response while the council identifies sustainable funding.
Council and staff context City staff framed the supplemental budget as recognizing new grants and one‑time funding, including $1,200,000 to support the ambulance transport fund (city staff cited $900,000 from the general fund and $300,000 from the community safety payroll tax fund). Councilors repeatedly noted that long‑term stability would require further work and that the stormwater rate increase adopted during the budget process was used as one source to avoid deeper service cuts.
Next steps Council adopted the supplemental and biennial budgets at the meeting. Multiple speakers asked council to move quickly to create a budget stabilization process that includes diverse expertise — council members signaled support for continuing this work and indicated staff will return with implementation steps. The library advocates indicated they will pursue a levy renewal next year to secure dedicated funding.
