By Julie BUTCHER

The Glendale City Council held its fourth budget study session on Tuesday afternoon and was surprised to hear that the financial forecast got considerably rosier once city staff updated revenue estimates to accurately reflect income from Glendale Water and Power (GWP) that it had underestimated in past renditions of the proposed budget.

The city charter allows the city to transfer up to 25% of GWP’s income each year. By agreement, the current council has limited that amount to 10%.

The most updated proposed budget reflects an increase from FY 2023-24 of $31.5 million, or 2.7%, to a total of $1.204 billion, with a general fund of $325 million.

Every department needs additional staffing, explained city manager Roubik Golanian noting that the city had cut 20%-25% of its budgeted positions during the “great recession” and is slowly building back. There are currently 120 vacancies of the 942 budgeted jobs citywide; the city hopes to reduce this 13% rate to 10% this year – reportedly an industry standard. The city also benefits from $8 million in salary savings from the current vacancies, Golanian concluded.

The budget session highlighted outstanding issues and final changes to the budget are expected to be approved by the Council on June 4.

The city has not been billed by the City of Los Angeles for expenses incurred in joint operations of the Los Angeles-Glendale Water Reclamation Plant but has nonetheless set aside $11.4 million for that expense.

Responding to previous requests, councilmembers reviewed possible ways of hiring staff to assist the Council. Some cities utilize higher-level chief-of-staff type of positions; others assign a staff assistant to each councilmember. Glendale councilmembers opted to review hourly staffing or internship options in the future.

The Council will also consider the creation of a unit within the Office of the City Attorney to prosecute misdemeanors not being prosecuted by the current Los Angeles County district attorney. To do so, the city is required to secure either permission for the unit from the DA or a vote by the public to amend the city charter to permit the change. Staff for the new prosecutors would cost $1.2 million and could appear on the ballot in 2026.

“Given the overall atmosphere and culture we have in LA County, it’s something I’d like to explore,” Councilmember Ardy Kassakhian opined.

The Community Development Dept. proposed adding two code compliance inspectors to help enforce local regulations regarding street vending, Mylar balloons, restaurant plastics, gas-powered leaf blowers and tree protection measures at a fully loaded cost of $256,000.

Mayor Elen Asatryan expressed her preference for expending funds to support education and incentives rather than enforcement.

“I’m not interested in going after our restaurants and gardeners until we help them transition,” she said.

Councilmember Kassakhian countered her point of view.

“For $256,000, this is a great bargain for all of the issues they could address,” he said. “We used to see strong enforcement of our shopping cart ordinance but that has fallen by the wayside and we’re starting to see abandoned shopping carts. Same with illegal dumping. There are hot spots throughout the city. These are things we wouldn’t have seen on the streets of Glendale 15 years ago. It’s the little things that affect people’s perceptions of our city. Graffiti too.”

Councilmember Dan Brotman agreed noting that added staff was necessary to both educate and enforce city regulations.

“Whatever you call it, because what you’re calling enforcement is telling people what the right thing to do is, it’s not actually giving fines,” he said. “I know there have been cases where people have put artificial turf on city parkways. We don’t fine those people; we tell them how to fix it and [explain] what the city policy is. In most cases, they understand and make the change. Now if you’ve been out there three times and they thumb their nose at us, we have to be able to issue a citation. That’s the world we live in. We need code enforcement if we want any of our codes enforced, if we’re serious about the laws we’ve passed. It doesn’t preclude us from doing other things like education and offering incentives.”

Finally, the Council reviewed budgets for the city’s internal services departments, which account for 8.6% of the budget, $27.9 million proposed for the coming fiscal year, 75% in salary and benefits.

The Finance Dept. operates using generally accepted accounting standards and performs the financial work of the city: processing payroll, administering the city budget, preparing financial statements, paying the city’s bills, collecting revenue, performing analyses and audits as required by city practice and local, state and federal law.

The Office of the City Attorney provides advice and counsel to the council, the city’s boards and commissions, and department heads and staff; responds to requests for legal services; drafts all of the city’s ordinances, resolutions and motions; oversees all aspects of the city’s contracting processes; enforces the municipal code; and administers insurance, claims, and litigation of the city’s risk.

The city clerk “serves as the city’s 4-1-1,” detailed City Clerk Suzie Abajian. Her office answers public inquiries and offers counter service; manages all of the city’s public records; staffs the City Council as well as the city’s boards and commissions; coordinates elections; conducts ceremonial and educational outreach; and administers forms and filings.

The full citywide budget is expected to be before the Council at its regular meeting on Tuesday, June 4 at 6 p.m.