‘It’s not going to be easy’: Burbank approves 2016-17 budget while facing a roughly $1.2M deficit

Despite facing a roughly $1.2-million deficit, the Burbank City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved the 2016-17 budget, and its members and city staff said they will start figuring out how to avoid having more shortfalls in the following years.

One-time funds pulled from the city’s General Fund will be used to make up for the shortcoming this upcoming fiscal year. While most council members were concerned about having to dip into the General Fund, all of them said they recognize that a plan needs to be developed to avoid having to pay for a deficit in the future.

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Cindy Giraldo, the city’s financial services director, said the city is projected to have a $9.7-million deficit during the 2020-21 fiscal year if council members do not take action.

“The city manager’s office has been very aggressively pursuing strategies and efficiencies in our operations, as well as revenue-growth opportunities in order to correct [the deficit] in a sustainable way,” Giraldo said.

“[The city manager] did not want to take the approach in the budget of cutting things that were really unsustainable…He wanted to find ways where we can operate in a better way. A lot of those things will be coming before the council. They won’t all be easy decisions for the council,” she added.

Interim City Manager Ron Davis concurred with Giraldo, adding that if reoccurring budget deficits were an easy fix, “it would’ve already been done.”

“These will all be very painful, difficult choices, and we’re going to have to look at new ideas and ways to approach things, and we can no longer afford subsidies that we can avoid,” he said. “We’re just going to have to deal with them, one thing at a time. It’s not going to be easy.”

Councilwoman Emily Gabel-Luddy understood that taking money from the General Fund to make up for the deficit was the last thing the city wanted to do. However, she saw the use of the funds as a way to continue providing the programs and services Burbank residents have come to expect from the city.

“You could look at that $1.2 million and say that we’re out of balance,” she said. “Well, $700,000 of that is being made available for [police] training for our first responders or for recruitment of our first responders. So I find this a very well-balanced budget, with all of those things in mind.”

Mayor Jess Talamantes recalled the days when the city was able to create new programs for residents, but that is no longer possible.

“Those days are long gone,” he said. “We have come to expect platinum service, but at the same time, the revenue has dwindled to pay for that platinum service. So how do we make that up?”

Talamantes added that “this is a new economy” and that city officials will eventually have to start cutting programs if they cannot increase revenue or reduce expenses.

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Anthony Clark Carpio, anthonyclark.carpio@latimes.com

Twitter: @acocarpio