Burbank Budget Includes Raises in Water, Garbage Rates

BURBANK —  A $328-million city budget that raises water and garbage-collection rates has been approved by the City Council.

Under the city’s 1994-95 budget, average monthly water bills for Burbank residents will rise by 32 cents. The rate increase comes in anticipation of higher fees Burbank must pay to the Metropolitan Water District, which supplies the city, officials said.

“With respect to utilities, it’s a lean budget which takes into account a reduction in total staff and also freezes some positions during the 1994-95 budget year,” said Ron Stassi, general manager of the Burbank Public Service Department.

Garbage-collection rates will also increase, but it is not yet clear by how much. A proposal to increase the average monthly bill for garbage collection by $2.19 was rejected by the City Council and must be lowered.

The garbage rate increase, combined with a proposed $7-million bond issue and other fees, is intended to help fund millions of dollars in improvements at the Burbank landfill.

The city budget--which totals $328,455,426--was approved by the City Council on a 4-0 vote Tuesday, along with budgets for the Burbank Redevelopment Agency and the Burbank Housing Authority.

Enough money is available to maintain municipal services at their present level and possibly give city employees cost-of-living increases in their paychecks, officials said.

But the city cannot afford to expand its services and is still struggling to recover from budget cuts over the past four years. Improvement projects for sidewalks, libraries, parks and other public facilities will be delayed this year.

In addition, city officials warn that they may have to make modifications if they get less money than expected from the state.

“The state is irresponsibly ignoring their budget shortfall in order to avoid answering difficult questions in an election year,” City Manager Bud Ovrom wrote in the city’s annual budget report.

“Whomever gets elected will ‘discover’ a $4 to $6 billion shortfall in January, and will try to take the resources from cities and counties. We will, on behalf of our residents, oppose any more shift (by state officials) of local agency resources.”