Temple City : Utility Tax Under Scrutiny

The city will hold four community meetings in May on whether to implement a utility users tax.

City Manager Denise Ovrom said she will report the community’s input to the City Council in July, when the council plans to hold public hearings on the tax.

Council members will probably decide in July whether to implement the tax, how high it should be and which utilities would be taxed.

It would take three to four months before the tax started to appear on customers’ bills, she said.

Ovrom said a tax would probably be in the 2% to 3% range. A 2% utility users tax would cost an average resident $3 to $5 a month and raise $400,000 to $500,000 annually, city officials say.

The city has lost $450,000 in state revenues in the last four years and is expected to lose an estimated $230,000 in state revenue for 1993-94. Meanwhile, the cost of policing by the County Sheriff’s Department is expected to be an additional $200,000 next year.

Commmunity meetings will be held at the Masonic Temple, 5918 Cloverly Ave., 7 p.m. May 12; Temple City High School, 9501 East Lemon Ave., 7 p.m. May 13; Temple City Women’s Club, 5954 Kauffman Ave., 7 p.m. May 17; Live Oak Park auditorium, Daines Drive, 7 p.m. May 19.