Council OKs Burbank Budget With Few Changes, No Tax Hike

The City Council has unanimously approved a $303.9-million city budget with no new taxes and no dramatic changes to the funding of municipal departments.

The largest amount of money in the 1995-96 fiscal budget, which was approved Tuesday, will go toward Burbank’s Public Service Department, which provides electricity and water: $127.5 million. The city’s General Fund will get $84 million, followed by the Redevelopment Agency, at $26.4 million.

While the approved budget provides the city with additional money to keep libraries open on Sundays and hire a handful of new employees, city officials say little else is likely to change.

Local taxes and rates for electricity, water and garbage collection will stay the same, but so will most services provided by the city.

“It’s pretty much status quo,” said Assistant City Manager Steve Helvey. “Right now, we’re taking care of the bread-and-butter, operational kind of things.

“We’re concerned about some uncertainty on the state level,” he added. “We’re optimistic we’re controlling expenditures and making the most of our economic base here, but we recognize there are other factors at play.”

Burbank has operated with a balanced budget for at least the past 20 years, said the city’s Budget Administrator Scott Mitnick.

But in a report presented to the City Council, City Manager Robert (Bud) Ovrom warned that the city’s surplus funds could significantly drop, making it difficult to pay for any unexpected projects after passage of the budget.

With the exception of proposed improvements to the city’s waste-water treatment plant, Ovrom wrote, “numerous federal, state and regional government environmental mandates may end up causing the city to issue revenue bonds to undertake various long-term capital improvements involving the city’s electrical, water and landfill operations.”