Financial storm gloomier than originally forecast.

Byline: City Beat / Springfield by Matt Cooper The Register-Guard

YOU KNOW it's trouble when the numbers come in even lower than your own cautious estimates.

The city had planned for 5 percent growth in its assessed property value this year - that would have netted $12 million in taxes off an assessed value of $2.62 billion, Finance Director Bob Duey said.

The 5 percent projected growth is conservative - typically the growth is 6 percent, he said. But here's the kicker - the growth that Lane County reported for Springfield is a meager 2.53 percent.

That means $280,000 that the city won't see.

"It's big enough that we will probably end up discussing whether we should take any immediate action to negate the loss of revenue," Duey said. "Otherwise, we have to consider taking it out of reserves and that may not be the best option."

More worrisome for Duey is the trend; in next year's budget, the additional shortfall would be $500,000, he said.

The news was the same for the Willamalane Park and Recreation District.

"We'll be needing to use about $89,000 in reserves to cover the existing level of service," Superintendent Bob Keefer said. "Nothing to panic over, but if the trend continues we will have to reduce the level of service."

Why the unexpected drop?

It's complicated, but it involves state Measures 47 and 50, which rolled back assessed property value and limited its growth in 1997, and forevermore.

"Measure 50 has made the assessment of taxation more complicated to understand," Duey said. "(Lane County Assessor Jim Gangle) has offered to meet with us all next week to help us understand what's going on. His office indicated this looked more like a countywide trend."

Smoke alarm

If you've got a wood stove, pellet stove or fireplace, you might want to familiarize yourself with the word "opacity."

That means "the state of being opaque," which, in this case, refers to the smoke that comes from such fuel-heating devices. Officials want to limit that amount.

The City Council on Monday will host the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority, which wants the city to amend sections of the municipal code to prohibit the burning of garbage and bring the code in line with federal air pollution standards.

The amendments would stop the burning of garbage in wood stoves, pellet stoves and fireplaces, and establish "opacity limits" for the smoke. LRAPA says the cost to the city should be nil.

The issue is quality-of-life for people with woodstoves and fireplaces - and neighbors unhappy with the smoke.

The changes could help resolve "neighborhood complaint situations," LRAPA says.

Cop talk

For the police, the issues are three: staffing needs, a better facility and high property crime.

That's a rough synopsis of the presentation that the Police Planning Task Force will make Monday to City Council members, in hopes of support for the group's long-range police plan.

For now, the staffing question is up to the voters: Measure 20-76, if approved Nov. 5, would pay for eight officers, five community service officers and other per- sonnel.

As far as a facility is concerned, the task force found that the current building at 344 A St. is crowded, structurally poor and actually impedes operations. But Chief Jerry Smith said the issue is on hold, due to the money crunch.

Where crime is concerned, the city continues to grapple with the highest ranking in the state for thefts and other property crimes.

"It's just information to be aware of," Smith said. "There are some ways to attack those issues, but you're talking about funding. This is a check-in to let the council know what (the task force) has been working on, what they're seeing."

Springfield reporter Matt Cooper can be reached at 338-2317 or by e-mail at [e-mail]

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CITY BEAT / SPRINGFIELD Matt Cooper