Eugene council forms city-manager advisory panel to begin long-range financial planning

At a July 14 City of Eugene work session, the City Council directed the city manager to convene an ad hoc city-manager committee of technical advisers to begin near- and midterm long-range financial planning and to inform council discussions on longer-term fiscal stability.

The council voted 7–1 to instruct the city manager to create the committee, which staff described as a technical advisory panel focused on the two- to six-year horizon and contributing analysis to a broader 10-year unfunded needs assessment. "Long range financial planning involves evaluating revenues, expenditures, and key factors such as unfunded needs, our debt capacity, assessing risks, and external economic analysis to develop strategies as we look to the future," Twila Miller, the city’s chief financial officer, told the council.

City Manager Sarah (identified in the meeting as city manager) said staff expect the committee to begin work after the council’s summer break and for members to be asked to commit significant time in the fall. The committee, she said, would review general fund revenues, services paid from the general fund and historically voter-funded services such as the library and parks levies, stormwater fees, and the community safety payroll tax. "The focus of the group would be on the near to midterm or that 6 year time horizon," Miller said.

Why it matters: Eugene faces multiple fiscal touch points over the coming years, staff told the council. The city will revisit a library levy, consider a parks and recreation levy, confront a road bond in 2027, and weigh whether to continue the community safety payroll tax. Staff warned that decisions made mid-biennium — for example, putting a payroll tax to a vote in 2027 — could complicate budgeting for the 2027–29 biennium.

Debate and scope: Councilors debated whether the advisory group should report to the city manager or be a council-led committee. Several councilors, including Councilor Clark and Councilor Groves, emphasized the technical nature of the panel and supported a manager-led advisory group that could be formed more quickly. Councilor Zelenka and others described the work in two phases: an initial technical investigation (how the budget works, drivers, constraints) and a subsequent broader visioning effort on service priorities and values. "This is kind of phase 1, phase 2, where phase 1 is an investigation into the budget and phase 2 is the visioning or course setting," Councilor Zelenka said.

Process, timeline and deliverables: Staff said they will update the city’s unfunded needs assessment over a 10-year horizon this summer, update forecasts, and bring foundational analysis to council during winter work sessions. The city manager outlined that if the committee is convened as a city-manager panel, its recommendations would come back to the city manager; if formed as a council committee, reports would come directly to council. The motion adopted directs the city manager to create a committee that will begin work in September 2025 and complete work by a date to be specified by the city manager. "We would spend kind of between now and September preparing for that, identifying who the members might be, inviting them, identifying some type of outside facilitator for that work, and developing the education resources in order to launch that work in September," the city manager said.

The council also discussed community engagement and education tied to the process. Staff proposed recruiting 8–10 technical advisers with finance and operations expertise who would commit to learning the city’s budget fundamentals and participate in outreach and education. The work will be visible to council through regular updates; staff said they plan to return to council in September with recommendations on committee structure and membership and to bring long-range financial stability discussions into a winter retreat and subsequent budget cycle.

Next steps: The motion to form the city-manager ad hoc technical advisory committee was moved by Councilor Leach and seconded by Councilor Clark and passed 7–1. Staff said they will return in September with proposed members, a charter, and schedule information; council will receive a financial condition update, a 10-year unfunded needs assessment, and a policy and service prioritization discussion in the winter work sessions.