Jackson Bell
Burbank businesses competing for out-of-town commuters have one less
cost to worry about after the City Council decided this week against
raising the transient parking tax.
After listening to concerns voiced by about a dozen people at
Tuesday's public hearing, the council turned down Burbank Financial
Director Derek Hanway's recommendation to raise the tax. The council
first rejected such a proposal in June.
Hanway said the tax increase would generate $330,000 in annual
revenue for the city, which is facing a projected $9.8-million
deficit in the coming fiscal year.
"What's nice about this is that it is basically a tax on
non-Burbank residents for the most part," he said at the hearing.
"These are people who drive into the community, create an additional
demand for services and use our parking. The tax will help to
generate revenue to help offset that cost."
Mayor Stacey Murphy, however, said the proposed increase, which
would primarily affect hotels and parking lots surrounding Bob Hope
Airport, is unfair to those businesses that have been trying to stay
afloat despite a cool economic climate and a heated pricing war.
"The voters voted for us to raise the tax at a time that makes
sense," she said, referring to the narrow passage in April of Measure
N, which allows the council to raise the tax at their discretion.
"Now doesn't make sense."
Councilman Dave Golonski, who supports the proposed increase, said
that since the measure's approval, the city could have generated
$200,000.
City programs that were eliminated, including the PerformArts
Grant program that resulted in 14 organizations not receiving about
$77,000, could have been saved if the tax was enacted by the council,
Golonski said.
"To continue to defer [the proposed increase] would be a mistake,"
Golonski said. "To increase it would be a prudent thing and one of
the steps we should do as a city."
The proposed increase, according to Joseph Kruvi, General Manager
at Hilton Burbank Airport and Convention Center, would only hurt
businesses that rely on out-of-town visitors, since competition is
high between the Burbank-Glendale- Pasadena Airport Authority,
privately owned parking lots and neighboring hotels.
"I don't think businesses will be able to pass on the cost to
customers because we are in the middle of a price war," Kruvi said.
