By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
The Yachats Finance Committee got a first glimpse Wednesday of a draft 2019-20 city budget for capital projects and was immediately asked to look for ways to trim $1 million from $1.8 million in requests.
“We’re all going to need to chip in to find sources of revenue and cuts,” City Manager Shannon Beaucaire said as she introduced a rough draft of her budget to the other seven members of the committee. “We’re going to have this push and pull with savings and spending.”
The committee went over stacks of spreadsheets and other documents. It focused most of its time on capital projects – money requested by staff or city commissions for sewers, wastewater treatment, streets, visitor amenities and a couple of hot-button or long debated issues like replacing the Little Log Church and expanding the library. After two hours it identified more than $400,000 in cuts to Beaucaire’s draft capital plan.
The committee will discuss Beaucaire’s draft proposals again before handing it off to the city’s Budget Committee in May and June. A final budget must be approved by July 1 when the 2019-20 fiscal year begins.
The longest discussions were about proposals to expand the library, replace the church portion of the Little Log Church and Museum and contribute to the purchase of the Evans/Betz property along the Yachats River.
The proposed capital budget for the library is $60,585 – small compared with other requests – was put off when committee member David Rivinus said the Library Commission would vote Thursday whether to re-affirm proceeding with the expansion.
Rivinus, a member of the Library Commission, said a “great deal” of the library’s fundraising was done with the idea of moving to the city’s 501 Building. Since that plan was dropped because it was too expensive, fundraising for capital projects stopped, he said, and some grants to help pay for expansion are expiring. The city does have $150,000 from patron’s bequest that can be used on library expenses, but the Library Commission wants to dedicate $100,000 of that to the expansion and keep $50,000 in reserve.
“It always seems like two steps forward, one step backward,” Rivinus said.
The discussion on financing the replacement of the Little Log Church focused on whether to carry over $112,000 unspent in this year’s capital budget to next year.
Committee member John Purcell brought up several issues with the estimated $300,000 – budgeted over two years — it might cost to replace the church, which is in deteriorating condition. Although it has done little fundraising in the past, he asked if the city should require the Friends of the Little Log Church to reconstitute itself to accept more tax-deductible contributions and to raise a sizeable portion of the replacement cost.
“If the community wants it, it needs to be visible,” said Purcell, who is also chair of the city’s Parks and Commons Commission.
Committee member Glen Aukstikalnis expressed surprise at the cost of more than $400 a square foot to replace the church and wondered aloud if it was worth it.
“Are visitors going to stop coming to Yachats because the Little Log Church went away?” he asked. “Would you attract more visitors by having a park or a functioning parking lot?”
Because the church is still operational, Purcell suggested no capital outlay for 2019-20, to get detailed replacement costs and give church supporters time to raise money.
“We need some kind of match and some kind of contribution,” he said.
For the time being, the committee decided to carry over the money from the current fiscal year.
The committee also questioned the status of a year-old request in the visitor amenities capital plan for $200,000 by the nonprofit group View the Future to help purchase 32 acres of land on the south side of the Yachats River.
Purcell, who is co-chair of the nonprofit and declared his conflict of interest, said the group is getting the property appraised again. Since the departure from Oregon of the Trust for Public Lands, the group has started working with the McKenzie River Trust to see if it can acquire the property from two Eugene-area developers.
He said the $200,000 could be moved to 2020-21 but that groups and agencies donating money “need to know if there is community support.” He said the acquisition would cost “significantly more than $200,000 and it’s going to take awhile to raise those funds.” Purcell said he would ask McKenzie if it would be OK to move the $200,000 to the 2020-21 capital budget.
The committee went along with suggestions by water treatment plant operator Rick McClung to cut $155,000 from water-related capital proposals of $525,000. But he warned that reserves in the water budget are dropping and should be safeguarded.
“After this budget I’ll have $200,000 in reserves and that’s not the way to run a city,” he said.
Beaucaire has also proposed $75,000 in the capital budget to remodel and equipment the 501 Building to house offices and council chambers. But she said she too would seek grants and outside help to offset costs.
“City Hall has the obligation to look for grants just like the Little Log Church and the library,” Beaucaire said.
Beaucaire said she would continue working with staff and commissions on their money requests, sort out issues raised Wednesday and schedule Budget Committee meetings.
“I need to refine this further,” she said.