NEIGHBORING CITIES FISCAL OPPOSITES; BURBANK BOOSTS SPENDING WHILE GLENDALE FORCED TO CUT.

Byline: Eric Wahlgren Daily News Staff Writer

While Burbank leaders will soon start doling out increases to city departments thanks to a cushy financial surplus for 1997-1998, Glendale officials have dragged out the budget ax to close the Jewel City's largest shortfall in recent years.

Although the two cities share borders and the fact that their budgets each total more than $330 million, Glendale's purse must cover the operation of a city with twice the population of Burbank, which has about 100,000 residents.

The marked contrast in the way the two city councils finally approved their new budgets during separate June 24 meetings was not lost on Sandra Schmidt, Burbank's assistant financial director.

``Their council was really going through some pain trying to explain all the cuts to the public,'' Schmidt said of Glendale's leaders. ``I really felt sorry for them. Here in Burbank, we got to the budget at 11:15 p.m., and it passed at 11:20 p.m.''

Even before Glendale's latest round of budget cuts, certain indicators already appeared to point to a gap in service levels between the two cities that are both valued for their high quality of life in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

While Burbank puts 1.6 police officers on its streets for every 1,000 residents, Glendale has only 1.1. Glendale spends $38 per resident on parks and recreation annually while Burbank allots $106. As for libraries, Burbank shells out about $39 per resident while its neighbor to the east comes up with just $26.

The story of how Burbank and Glendale each put together their spending plans for this coming year is truly a tale of two vastly different budgets.

Burbank is flush with sales tax and other revenues allowing for new employees in the Police Department and boosts in the city's library and parks and recreation budgets.

Glendale is strained by stagnant revenues and by a recent voter-approved initiative that restricts the amount the city can collect in certain utility fees, forcing officials to make across-the-board cuts and eliminate jobs.

Getting Burbank's City Council to approve the budget this year was a breeze, Schmidt said.

The city's sales tax revenues rose by 4.3 percent over last year, helping increase projected revenues for the general fund - the slice of the budget over which council members have the most control - to $88.6 million, leaving a $1.5 million surplus.

``Our revenues are growing a little faster than Glendale's revenues,'' said Stephen Helvey, Burbank's assistant city manager. ``Over the last four or five years, our sales tax and general revenue growth rates have been pretty vibrant.''

Lawsuit challenged tax

Although the real difference between the $85.5 million in planned expenditures and expected revenues is actually an even greater surplus - $3.1 million - Burbank leaders are not touching $1.6 million of it.

That's because this amount was raised by a special 10 percent tax on parking that the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority is now challenging in a lawsuit.

Even though Schmidt said the remaining $1.5 million indicates that the city is in good financial health, she said the budget does not include any salary increases, which are still being negotiated.

``It's not as rosy as it seems,'' Schmidt said.

Compared to Glendale's situation though, Burbank's spending plan is a budget officer's dream.

Among some of the increases, Burbank's budget for the 1997-1998 fiscal year calls for:

Beefing up the Police Department's budget by 7.2 percent, allowing for two new jailers, one clerk and expanded overtime pay for personnel in keeping with contract agreements.

Increasing the city's parks and recreation budget by $350,000, or 8.9 percent, which provides money to broaden after-school and youth employment programs.

Raising the library's budget by 4.8 percent to offset cuts in previous years, enabling the library to continue a literacy program and to increase its book budget by $30,000.

Glendale leaders say they have only good feelings toward their richer neighbor to the west, even though they, in contrast, had to slash spending in nearly every department to close a $6.1 million shortfall, the largest in at least four years.

``I say hooray for them,'' said Ginger Bremberg, a Glendale councilwoman.

Voters limited revenue

But many Glendale officials do have a grudge against Proposition 218, a voter-approved initiative that essentially limits the city's ability to collect a surcharge on its sewer and water fees, resulting in a $2.8 million loss in revenue.

``The biggest problem with the budget was the reduction in that revenue,'' said Ron Ahlers, a Glendale budget officer.

Burbank does not have a surcharge on water and sewage fees, shielding it from a similar fate.

Contributing to the shortfall in the more than $86 million general fund this year, Ahlers said, was a $1.5 million jump in employee cost-of-living adjustments and other unforeseen expenses.

To close the gap, Glendale's City Council agreed last month to eliminate 12 part-time positions, mainly in public works, and to wipe out 23 vacant full-time slots across various departments.

``Almost everybody is sharing in the pain,'' Ahlers said.

Some of the other cuts include:

Paring $500,000 from the Police Department budget, which city officials say will not hurt the department's operations as they will make up much of the difference with state grant money. The cuts, though, mean the department will not be able to hire an additional four officers as requested, officials said.

Lowering the Fire Department's budget by $200,000, which Ahlers said will mostly be done by renegotiating the city's contract with a paramedics company.

Slashing nearly $130,000 from the library's $5.2 million budget, resulting in the loss of one librarian position and other cuts. The reductions will mean the library will only open its special collections room, with its local history materials and one of the world's largest collection of books on cats, on Saturdays, said a library spokeswoman.

``It hurts,'' said Marie Fish, library services administrator. ``We are running a very tight ship as it is.''

And in the latest wrinkle in the budget process, Councilman Dave Weaver has asked that the panel take a second look at the more than $300,000 it approved to remodel city offices, indicating that there may be still more cuts to come.

Aside from Proposition 218, both Glendale and Burbank city officials say there is no easy way to explain why one city appears to be rolling in the dough while the other is busy slashing spending in nearly every department.

But David Ramsay, Glendale's city manager, says one major reason may stem from the legacy of a second voter initiative - Proposition 13 - which froze the percentage of property tax money returned to cities in 1978.

Because of that initiative, Burbank, which had a higher property tax return rate at the time, has still been able to collect 18 cents for every dollar assessed in property taxes while Glendale's return is stuck at 12 cents.

If Glendale also had the higher 18 cents return rate, the city would have netted $6 million more this year in revenues, Ramsay said, allowing officials to balance the budget without any cuts.

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