STANTON : Council Tentatively OKs 6% Utility Tax

After clashing with angry residents, the City Council this week tentatively approved a 6% tax on utilities that officials hope will help offset a projected $1.4-million deficit in the 1993-94 budget.

Residents will be able to protest the utility tax proposal again on March 23, when the council is expected to take a final vote. If approved, the tax would appear on water, gas, electricity and phone bills beginning this summer.

Councilmen Sal Sapien and Harry Dotson voted against the proposal, with Sapien suggesting a utility tax of 5% instead. A 6% tax could raise $1 million annually for the city, which has a budget of about $8.25 million, according to City Manager Terry Matz.

Matz and other staff members used charts and graphs to explain the city’s financial crisis but drew no sympathy from the roughly 50 residents who came to Tuesday night’s council meeting.

“Hell, when I get broke, I don’t go down to the county to go on welfare. I go without,” said resident Paul Tucker.

During his presentation, Matz showed through the use of slides the $1.5 million in property taxes, court fines, cigarette taxes and other revenue he said the state has taken from Stanton in the last three years.

Tightening belts at City Hall has been hard, Matz said. About 70% of the city’s budget goes for police and fire services, for which the city contracts with the county. To save money, city salaries have been frozen since 1990, travel has been restricted and positions have been eliminated, Matz said.

“We’re very lean in terms of staffing,” Finance Director John Hartman told residents. Not counting police and firefighters, Stanton only has one city employee per 1,000 residents, he said. In comparison, Anaheim has five city workers for every 1,000 residents, he said.

The utility tax is one of the revenue-raising measures the council has considered as it faces a $700,000 deficit this year and a projected $1.4-million deficit next year. The council has hired an outside consultant to see if the city is recovering its costs for planning, inspections and other services.

Some residents said they believe the city is simply spending too much of the public’s money. “What are you doing to have these expenses?” resident Martha Zuniga asked after the presentations.

“We’ve been broke as long as I’ve been in the city--over 30 years,” said Tucker. He said city employees should take pay cuts. “How much does Mr. Matz get paid?” he asked. Matz replied that his annual salary is $74,000, and many in the audience gasped.

Mayor Don Martinez defended Matz, saying he does the work of five people. Dotson also defended Matz. “We’re getting the best bang for the buck that we can get,” he said. “I’m personally convinced that we have cut everything that we could.”

Some residents suggested the city may have to disincorporate. “That may be an alternative--to let the city go back to the county,” said resident Robert Stewart. Stanton first incorporated in 1911 but became part of the county in 1924 to allow the state to construct roads through the area. In 1956, Stanton became a city again.

Martinez, who repeatedly told residents he does not like voting to impose a utility tax, blamed state legislators for Stanton’s fiscal crisis. “I’ll be the first one to make sure none of those bums are there (after the next election),” he said.