BURBANK : Changes Weighed in Downtown Tax Plan

Hoping to ease the burden on small businesses, the Burbank City Council tonight will consider revising a proposed special downtown tax district designed to breathe new life into the central business district.

Officials hope that changing the proposed Burbank Village Business Improvement District will appease many of the merchants who have staunchly opposed it.

The new tax is based on a percentage of annual sales plus a monthly charge based on square footage. Under the proposed change, the new tax would be phased in over a three-year period to give small businesses a chance to adjust.

The tax will pay for promotional events and other purposes to lure more shoppers downtown.

“I think we’ll get less flack over it,” said Morris Goodstein, who has owned a shoe store in Burbank for 47 years and wants to see the tax district created. “Less people will be objecting to it.”

Goodstein, who also wants to serve on a seven-member advisory board that is to oversee the district, said he believes that it will be worth the cost because it will bring in new customers.

The advisory board is to be named by the City Council tonight. Eleven representatives of local businesses have applied.