By Brian CHERNICK

The City of Glendale reported a second fiscal quarter of $73 million in revenue, about 34.1% of the expected $215 million annual revenue, and a general fund spending of $104.7 million, which accounts for 47.4% of the city’s annual budget.

City staff reported that the Glendale Fire Dept. was the only department that has spent greater than 50% of its budget due to the La Tuna Canyon Fire that occurred during the first quarter.

The financial report included an adjustment and an expected loss of $700,000 in the city’s annual revenue due to a decrease in UUT, or Utility Users Taxes, revenue.

“(UUT) is a broad tax on electricity, telecom and video services,” director of Finance Robert Elliot explained during the meeting. “Those services are declining in terms of the taxability. Folks are going to Netflix and Hulu and other internet-based TV [services] so the tax doesn’t apply to those.”

Currently Glendale does not tax internet provided television. Elliot mentioned staff had considered proposing a change in tax ordinance to compensate for the decline in revenue but decided to back off the idea, citing Pasadena’s attempt that was faced with a “big storm of protest” by residents.

The city council also voted to impose a compensation adjustment and realignment for over 40 different government jobs throughout the city. The adjustment is intended to serve as a way to retain talent for important roles in maintaining Glendale. The jobs and departments from both the Glendale City Employees’ Association (GCEA) and Glendale Management Association (GMA) range from civil and electrical engineers, to fire department and police department employees to human resource analysts and other supervisor, superintendent and managerial positions.

A survey and study conducted by the city’s Human Resources Dept. found that, when comparing the labor market in surrounding cities similar to Glendale’s size, Glendale’s compensation was between 15% and 30% lower. The effort to catch up with surrounding cities began during the 2015-16 fiscal year and will continue into 2020 with each year increasing salary in steps of 5.5% a year.

  Brian CHERNICK