The Las Cruces City Council held the first city council meeting of the month and passed resolutions regarding increased income from the gross receipts tax.
After a controversial amendment, the city council unanimously voted to authorize $15.8 million in spending from the gross receipts tax increase voters approved in 2024.
Originally, the proposal called for $3.5 million to be put towards a driving track that would help train local police departments and $4.3 million for facility and asset maintenance.
After much discussion among the city council and public comments, the council voted four to three to approve an amendment that lowered the driving track portion to $2.5 million and moved the extra $1 million to asset maintenance.
Councilors Bill Mattiace and John Muñoz as well as mayor Eric Enriquez voted against the amendment.
The final resolution also added funds for the fire department, road improvements at the Alameda and Hoagland intersection and more vehicles.
City councilor for district three Michael Harris said that part of the reason why money was moved was due to the city's vast need for infrastructure improvements.
“We’ve got $1.1 billion, billion with a B, in maintenance projects and capital improvement projects. That can be anything from drinking fountains to street lights, we've got the outdoor pool on the East Mesa, it is settling into the ground and is going to need some maintenance so obviously we want to get on top of that kind of stuff really quickly,” Harris said.
In addition to this, Harris said that there are more funding options for law enforcement through different channels.
“The state in the past has been very generous and our federal congressional delegation as well. We have gotten funds for the Real-Time Crime Center, for training, for equipment, and for this track project and that is a pretty reliable source of funds,” Harris said.
The city also approved an application for financing that seeks to get bond money from the state to pay for more improvements like road construction and public safety funding.
