SEAL BEACH : Hearing Scheduled on Utility Tax Hike

Residents will have a chance to express their views about a proposed doubling of the city’s utility-users tax at a public hearing scheduled for May 24.

The City Council is considering the tax increase as a way of reducing an anticipated $1.7-million budget shortfall.

If council members approve the plan, the tax that residents pay on monthly telephone, gas and electric bills will increase from 5% to as much as 11%.

While council members say they are far from making a final decision on the tax increase, some officials say it might be the least painful way of reducing the looming deficit, which is primarily the result of deep cuts in state funding.

The expected shortfall comes after three years of lean budgets that forced officials to sharply reduce both city spending and personnel. During the last two years, city staffing has been reduced by more than 20%. In the 1990-91 fiscal year, the city spent $13 million. In the 1992-93 fiscal year, it is expected to spend $10.6 million.

So far, little organized opposition to the utility-users tax increase has surfaced.