The Arcadia City Council unanimously supports a 5% utility tax on interstate and international telephone calls. The proposed tax will cost about $.40 per person per month.
With Arcadia's Foulger Ford now following Arcadia Suzuki out of town, Arcadia stands to lose about $230,000 in sales tax revenue per year, just short of 1% of the city's $23.699 million budget.
Bruce Low, general manager of Arcadia Datsun, isn't particularly happy with the city. Reason stems from an about-face by the City Council last winter when it decided in favor of retail commercial developments that would bring sales tax revenue to the city.
Within 18 months, Arcadia Nissan, the last of the city's 3 auto dealerships, will pack up and leave town. The departure of the 3 auto dealerships will result in a loss to the city of $450,000 a year in sales tax (about 2% of the yearly city budget).
One robbery was foiled at Arcadia's Southland Bank, but earlier the same day another man got away with just over $1,000 from the First Interstate Bank on South Baldwin Ave.
A plan to reduce the size of the Arcadia Planning Commission from 7 to 5 members has been held over by the City Council. The Council has until July to think about the proposal.
City Council has renewed an examination of the admission tax Santa Anita pays compared to other race tracks. The track provided 34.1% of the city's total annual revenues in the fiscal year 1980-81. Traffic control costs in Arcadia are higher than in other cities with race tracks.
Construction of a new senior center in Arcadia will be funded in part through more than $200.000 allocated from federal Community Development Block Grant funds for the 1988-89 fiscal year, not through an exchange of money with another city that would have cost Arcadia about $75,000.
Roy Tynes, superintendent of Vehicle Maintenance for Arcadia, claims the city saves about $2000 a month using liquid propane fuel. Of the city's 280 vehicles, about 30 are powered on propane.
Arcadia could build a multi-purpose Senior Citizen Center for $1.5 million plus the cost of the property, according to a report submitted to the City Council by Warren Shaw, chairman of the Arcadia Senior Citizen's Commission. The report indicated that most of the money would come from state and federal sources, but that Arcadia would need to chip in at least $225,000 of matching funds. The center is necessary, Shaw said, due to a current lack of senior citizen facilities.