Council to Discuss Fee Increases, More Tonight

The Sierra Madre City Council will meet tonight in City Hall Chambers, 232 W Sierra Madre Blvd. Residents are invited to attend, and the meeting will be simultaneously broadcast online on KGEM-TV’s website via a live stream and on local cable channel 3.

Here’s a brief look at some of the things the Council will be discussing tonight. Stick with Patch for coverage of the meeting.

Bed and Breakfasts. The Council will discuss an ordinance that would allow historic homes to be used as bed and breakfast inns. The Planning Commission to operate as a bed and breakfast.

Balancing the Budget and Increasing City Fees. The Council will continue to discuss the city’s budget shortfalls and solutions to close the gap. With General Fund revenues trending about $300,000 lower than expected, the loss of monies from the now-defunct Community Redevelopment Agency (that would have totaled $1.6m) and unexpected expenditures due to the , the city’s budget took some hits over the past year.

A public hearing will continue tonight regarding an increase in city fees across 12 different departments including Administrative, Library, Parks, Recreations, Building, Police, Fire and more. The fee increases were proposed to help generate revenue and balance the city’s budget.

Some of the proposed fee increases include block party permits increasing from $52 to $118; minor Conditional Use Permits and Variances increasing from $788 to $1,771; library DVD rental fees increasing from $0 to $1; various fee increases for participation in the , , , , and other community activities; overnight parking permits increasing from $81 to $84, and much more. For the full list of proposed fee increases, see the attached document.

Other options in the staff report for balancing the budget, aside from fee increases, include eliminating cadets from the police force, contracting out the police force, contracting out parking citation services, installing downtown parking meters, instituting a permit fee for non-residents for , eliminating a third full-time fire captain, further reducing hours and more.

City Job Descriptions and Salaries. The Council will discuss a detailed matrix of city job descriptions, desired training and qualifications to fill these jobs and recommended salaries.

Pasadena Unified School Districting Task Force. The Council will see a presentation on the continued efforts of the PUSD task force to split the school district into sections that would each have their own representative on the Board of Education.

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