Letters to the Editor: Poor money management root of city of Burbank’s problems, readers write

I appreciate Thomas Saito’s letter of July 21 commenting that the City Council’s solution to budgetary problems is to raise taxes (the measure to be on the November ballot).

My suggestion, a small step, would be to eliminate the Fourth of July fireworks show. With the drought and the fact that we are recovering from a major fire in the Verdugo Mountains last September, we can forego 15 minutes of this tradition, perhaps avoiding another fire and saving money, too.

The City Council should demand more accountability from the various city departments, as to how money is spent. The easy solution is to raise taxes.

I am voting “no” on this ballot measure in November. City Council, do the hard work and find other ways to cut back on expenditures. Digging deep takes much effort, but I have faith that you can do it.

By the way, how much did the city spend on fireworks this year?

Marilyn Deal

Burbank

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Mailbag contributor Thomas Saito is absolutely correct when he writes that the city of Burbank squanders “millions of dollars worth of potential revenue and cost savings.” I’ve been decrying this abuse for several years after witnessing the huge amounts of money shoveled into the failing DeBell golf course and millions of dollars more given as “merit bonuses” to some city employees who didn’t even deserve the paychecks they received. After bonuses were suspended, I suspected the city would find another way to reward employees and it appears that, in lieu of bonuses, the city generously gave raises to already well-paid employees.

Because of the city’s poor money management, Burbank voters will soon be asked to approve a three-quarter-cent sales tax addition, this after the city paid what I’m certain is a princely sum to an outside consultant to conduct a survey to see if we’d be willing to pay an additional tax. Our local government, like so many governmental bodies, seems to only know one way to balance budgets: add another tax, thus causing taxpayers to become virtual ATMs.

In the June primary I was one of the minority who voted against Measure T, which made it legal to transfer a portion of Burbank Water and Power funds to the city’s general fund. I believed, and still do, that without those extra dollars in its account, BWP would have to increase utility rates. People voted “yes” on Measure T because the City Council scared them into believing that police and fire services would be reduced if the measure didn’t pass. I spoke to neighbors who told me they were voting “yes” on this measure to ensure that emergency services would be affected. So now I see that our government uses intimidation to get more money out of us instead of doing the hard but necessary work of cutting perks and pork.

Molly Shore

Burbank