Features

Council to Vote on Final Budget June 23

By J. Douglas Allen-Taylor
Thursday June 18, 2009 - 07:35:00 PM

The Berkeley City Council is expected to give final approval to its 2010 and 2011 biennial budget at its meeting on Tuesday, June 23, although “final” is a relative term in the current economic times. With continued certainty that a final state budget package will include reductions in state revenue coming to Berkeley—as well as uncertainty over how much and in what areas—the council is expected to come back after the summer break to make adjustments after the full economic situation is known. 

The council meets at 7 p.m. at the Old City Hall building on Martin Luther King Jr. Way in downtown Berkeley. 

Included in Tuesday’s budget package are a recommendation for a $5 across-the-board increase in parking citation fines—the second such increase by Berkeley this year—and the second reading of proposed tax rate increases for emergency services for the severely disabled, park and tree maintenance, and emergency medical services and plus the first reading of an increase in the library services tax. 

The council has also scheduled discussion of a proposed new wireless Telecommunications Master Plan to govern the placement and regulation of cellphone tower facilities in the city limits. Berkeley already has a telecommunications ordinance in place, but is considering revamping the law in light of recent court rulings.