Economy

By Jesse L. Byers

A bold initiative to raise incomes in the city and a simple plan to bring down city expenses.

Part of the major problem in housing costs here in Burbank is the tough economy. There are ways around this for as we know, the businesses here in Burbank are doing exceptionally well.

In some counties and cities in several states what’s called a “survival wage” law has gone into effect. Some years back, there was an attempt to enact such a statute in Santa Monica. While it had grand intentions, it failed.

There are ways around the sweeping failure of Santa Monica’s wage law. Under my proposed Living Wage Plan, any company or business residing in and doing business in Burbank that falls under certain guidelines would be required to pay its employees a certain amount.

1) Any company with a payroll of at least 100 employees total (i.e., the whole company not just that unit, office, store, etc) is required to pay its full time employees at least $9 per hour. This equates to app $19,000 per year.

OR

2) Any company profiting more than $450,000 per month ($5.4 million per year) in that particular unit, store, office, etc., is required to pay all full time employees at least $11.25 per hour (app. $21,000 per year).

The first clause is primary. If a company with more than 100 employees profits more than $450,000 per month it is only required to pay the $9 per hour.

These figures were based on the following:

Assuming one could find an apartment in Burbank for $1000 per month, food costs run them about $200 per month, various bills totaling about $200 and travels costs of about $40, the annual cost of living is roughly $17,300.

Some have argued that this would severely hurt the economy, that by requiring companies to pay more they would be forced out of the city. I say this is not the case. I contend that, in fact, it would help these very companies.

This law would mainly effect retailers, more often than not, the big-box, corporate giants like Barnes & Noble, Best Buy, Target, etc. Anyone who has worked for these types of retailers is more than aware how reckless and wasteful these companies actually are with cashflow, stock, paper waste and the like. This law would force these retailers to be more financially responsible. By doing so they would cut their operating costs and be in a better position overall, for themselves and their employees.

You can see the economics are not easy to manage and its not much but just getting by. It should be noted that these costs are still far below the poverty level and just barely cover the cost of living.

This would not be an easy plan to implement. It would require support from the community and possibly higher officials such as local congressmen, senators or state senators. But the benefits of such a plan cannot be ignored and would absolutely be a huge boon to the economy and infrastructure of Burbank.

PHASE II:

A second plan I have is extremely simple yet effective.

Anyone who takes a look at any government budget can see that it is plainly excessive and often wasteful. There are old laws and old rules and old regulations that simple do not apply anymore. But they continue to cost the city money every year simply by being in place. A plan I have would cut all these losses.

My plan is called "Restructure the Infrastructure."

It's as simple as this: Go through the budget, line-by-line, item-by-item, and rid the city of unnecessary expenditures.

Under my plan, a nine team volunteer committee would perform this process. Consisting of two ordinary citizens, two lawyers, two small business owners and a representative from the City Council would go through our entire budget and cut out all money-wasting items inside our city.

It's a simple but effective way to save taxpayer money and make the city run more effectively.