Asuza Voters Face Array of City Tax Measures

Faced with a stagnant budget, rising costs and a backlog of $1 million in street, park and other capital repairs, the city is turning to the ballot box for help in paying the tab.

Seven tax measures that propose either new fees or increases in existing levies will appear on Tuesday’s ballot.

The business community would bear the brunt through increased fees and taxes. But because city officials negotiated with the Azusa Chamber of Commerce and some of the larger businesses, none of the measures face any organized opposition.

Specific Users

The taxes, which would raise an estimated $1.3 million annually, are crucial if the city is to keep pace with needed improvements without cutting municipal services, said City Administrator Julio J. Fuentes.

Fuentes said the taxes focus on specific businesses.

“The City Council gave us a directive for the taxes to have no effect on the citizens at all,” he said.

Although Azusa’s $13-million operating budget is balanced, Fuentes said $1.3 million in cuts have been made over the past 2 years to keep the city out of the red. The cuts, he said, have come at the expense of new police and fire equipment as well as public works and street improvements.

“Unless we have the additional money, we’re going to have problems and things that you can’t fix without cutting service,” he said.

The city has not filled 20 vacant positions in an economy effort, said Finance Director Geoff Craig. In recent years, city revenue has increased at about half the rate of inflation, he said.

Any new revenue will be added to the city’s general fund, but there is no legal requirement that it be spent on the stated goals. Fuentes said, however, that the new money would be used for the advertised purposes.

Although the city could have targeted specific uses for the taxes, he said, they would then require two-thirds approval from the electorate under state law. The measures only require a simple majority to pass.

“All I can do is assure you” that the city would use the new revenue for the stated purposes, Fuentes said.

The revenue propositions would establish:

A multi-user hazardous-waste facility tax that would impose a 10% levy on gross receipts of Oil & Solvent Process Co. for the treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes. The tax would generate an estimated $520,000 annually and is authorized by the state Health and Safety Code.

An increase in the current 2% levy on gross receipts of the Azusa Land Reclamation Center to 10%, which would also establish a minimum annual tax level of $100,000. It would raise an estimated $400,000. West Covina, the only other San Gabriel Valley city with a landfill, charges 10%.

An increase in the city’s bed tax from the current 7.5% to 10%, which would raise an estimated $40,000 annually.

An increase in the city’s business license fee would establish a $40 surcharge on the current fee, which averages about $50 for each business. It would also tie the amount of the business tax to the consumer price index to account for inflation. It would raise an estimated $132,000 annually.

An admission tax that applies only to swap-meet vendors. It would raise the city’s existing admission tax from $1 to $2.50 for each vendor. It would also add a 20-cent tax on the price of admission to the swap meet and would permit a 10% tax on any paid parking for events in the city. The measure omits church-sponsored activities and the Edwards Theaters. It would raise an estimated $145,000.

A separate increase in the business license fee just for Edwards Theaters. The annual fee, levied per seat at indoor theaters or per parking place at a drive-in theater, would increase from 12 cents to $11.65. The increase would raise an estimated $50,000 annually.

(Edwards negotiated the tax with the city after first balking at being included in the admission tax.)

A link between the license fee charged to businesses that process wood or run excavating operations and the consumer price index to account for inflationary increases.

In addition to the revenue measures, voters will have a chance to express themselves on the use of “safe and sane” fireworks, which are legal during the first week of July. The City Council approved the nonbinding measure to gauge community support on a possible fireworks ban.