Fire Crew Restored; Taxes, Fees Increased : Glendale: The City Council tinkers with its $265-million budget.

A divided Glendale City Council concluded a boisterous seven-week budget debate Tuesday by restoring a fire crew cut last month, boosting water and electricity rates, imposing a new tax on cable television users and raising the tax on hotel guests.

To meet a deadline imposed by the City Charter, the council on June 26 adopted a $265-million budget for the fiscal year that began July 1. Since then, council members have continued to tinker with spending and fee proposals in the budget’s general fund, which is supported largely by local taxes and pays for services such as City Hall operations, public safety, parks and libraries.

Council members had complained that City Manager David Ramsay’s proposed $79.1-million general fund called for spending $9 million more than last year. After a series of council votes on Tuesday, the 1990-91 general fund was established at $78 million--$1.1 million lower than Ramsay’s original spending plan.

The council restored a 15-firefighter Montrose ladder-truck crew it had cut June 26--one day before Glendale’s worst fire destroyed 46 homes. Council members, who initially believed that the cut would save almost $1 million, said last week that they were misinformed about the duties of the fire crew and the amount of money that would be saved.

In Tuesday’s votes, they approved a new 7% fee that will add about $1.50 to the average cable television user’s bill. They approved fee increases that will boost the average resident’s electric bill by about $1 and the average water bill by almost $2 per month. They also raised the bed tax charged to hotel guests in Glendale from 7% to 10%.

The council increased from 3% to 5% of gross revenues the cable television franchise fee charged to Sammons Communications. This hike could be passed on to Glendale residents served by Sammons and further increase their cable bills.

“The budget is in,” Mayor Larry Zarian said wearily, after the votes. “I guess it’s been approved.” After the meeting, he added, “I’m not as pleased as I could be.”

Zarian said he objected to raising the bed tax and opposed leaving a $715,000 unallocated contingency fund to cover unexpected expenses, even though the city has millions of dollars in reserve accounts that could be used for emergencies. In both cases, Zarian was outvoted.

Councilman Carl W. Raggio supported the contingency fund, pointing out that the city had just been forced to spend $50,000 from such a fund for expenses related to the recent hillside fire. “I feel that we’re going to have a tough summer, and we ought to have it there,” he said.

At a budget review session on Friday, the council unanimously endorsed reinstatement of the Montrose fire crew. At that meeting the council agreed to alternate budget cuts, including $150,000 in police equipment and $100,000 earmarked for employee training.

Councilwoman Ginger Bremberg voted against this package of spending revisions Tuesday because she opposed most of the tax and fee increases used to balance the budget.

These revisions left the contingency fund of $715,000. On Tuesday Councilman Jerold F. Milner urged that this be reduced by eliminating one of the new taxes proposed by the city staff. “I have a problem getting money from the people of Glendale to put into a budget where we really don’t intend to spend it,” he said.

Milner urged the council to approve the new 7% cable television users tax but not a related 7% tax on interstate telephone calls, which had been expected to generate $345,000. His motion was approved 4 to 1, with Bremberg opposing.