The Las Cruces City Council held their second meeting of the month on Tuesday. The council overviewed an audit, some budget changes, and updates on ongoing projects.
The city council voted to approve the findings of an audit that it participated in last year. The city earned high praise from the audit after only uncovering two findings. One of the findings showed that some police cars were refueled using premium gas and not regular gas. The other finding was a self-report from South Central Solid Waste over cash receipts.
External auditor Jesse Oliver praised the city after his work on the audit.
“The city received an unmodified opinion. What the unmodified opinion means is that this is a very clean report, this is the best option that you can receive on an opinion,” Oliver said.
The council was also given a presentation on various capital improvement projects. Fire station 4 got a new roof to solve an ongoing leaking problem.
Division Chief for the Las Cruces Fire Department Dominic Soucy said that this and other improvements were very much needed.
“It was an emergency situation. The staff was getting rained on every time we had a storm," Soucy said.
Fire station 2 had the bay remodeled and fire station 5 had a new generator installed.
Projects like improvements to Pioneer Women's Park, reconstruction of Sacramento St., and electric buses also received more funding.
The city also approved to pre-commit up to $500,000 in impact fee and permit waivers for senior affordable housing. The new affordable housing is planned to be located off of Bataan Memorial West and Interstate 25.
Housing and Neighborhood Rejuvenation Manager Natalie Green says that this can help the plan move forward through a competitive Low-Income Housing Tax Credit award process.
“A precommitment from the city will strengthen the application by demonstrating our support and its readiness to proceed at the time of scoring,” Green said.
The council also voted to approve various budget adjustments.
