Bonds go up for grabs

BURBANK — As part of the ongoing cascade of federal stimulus funding, the U.S. Treasury Department on Friday announced a combined $16 million in low-interest bonds for Burbank and Glendale, but city officials are so far unsure if they’ll tap into the money. Burbank was allocated $5.8 million in federally subsidized bonds to finance public projects — everything from job training and education programs to infrastructure projects — as a part of the Treasury Department’s Recovery Zone Bonds program. Glendale was allocated about $10 million.

Should the money be tapped, the federal government would pay 45% of the interest, treasury officials said.

Rep. Adam Schiff, whose district includes Burbank and Glendale, said the bonds could provide “substantial help” to areas that need it most. The bonds must be used in so-called recovery zones, or areas within individual cities that meet criteria such as higher levels of unemployment and the strongest need for reconstruction and jobs.

“If they meet the criteria, those projects can move forward at a reduced cost,” Schiff said.

The cities were also allocated facility bonds, which the city can offer to private businesses for capital improvement projects. Burbank received $8.7 million, while Glendale was allotted up to $15 million.

But just because the money’s there doesn’t necessarily mean it will be used, officials said.

“When I first heard about the program, I looked into it and I did not think that there was anything, given the limitations, that we couldn’t already accomplish with redevelopment bonds,” Glendale Development Services Director Phil Lanzafame said. Burbank’s deputy city manager, Justin Hess, said he would be exploring what kind of programs and areas of the cities the bonds could support, but was noncommittal about whether the city would use them.

While useful, Hess said, the bonds would not be as helpful as the direct grants the city has received and aggressively applied for.

“If this was more direct allocation, that’s a lot easier than having to do a bond deal,” he said.

“Do we want to get ourselves in more debt?”

The local bonds are a portion of the $25 billion that was made available to cities in an effort to stimulate local economies, according to the Treasury Department.

Burbank and Glendale have already received federal stimulus money that’s been earmarked for schools and their respective Community Development Block Grants programs. Federal money has also flowed to the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority and the Verdugo Jobs Center, which retrains out-of-work residents in both cities.

 MELANIE HICKEN covers Glendale City Hall. She may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at melanie.hicken@ latimes.com.