Pasadena : 2 Tax Increases Proposed

The Pasadena Board of Directors will decide Tuesday whether to enact two proposed tax increases to help fund the city’s $108-million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

The proposals would raise the utility tax for residential customers to the same levels paid by commercial users and would impose a tax on interstate and international telephone calls.

The increase in the utility tax would raise the average residential customer’s bill by $1.57 a month. City officials said such a bill would still be $4 below that of a comparable customer in neighboring cities because of Pasadena’s low rate for electricity. The tax increase would generate $750,000 a year.

The proposed telephone tax would extend a levy that already applies to calls made within California. It would amount to 7.86% of the cost of the calls and would generate about $1 million a year.