The Las Cruces City Council approved their annual budget that sees significant cuts to many programs resulting in shorter library hours and slower infrastructure repair times in an effort to balance the budget.
The city council passed the over $586 million budget unanimously although acknowledged the stress this will put on many city programs and departments.
The effort to lower general fund spending started earlier this year when city staff alerted the council that the city was spending more money than it was taking in.
In response to these concerns, the city had to shave nearly $13 million from their proposed budget.
During the presentation of the proposed budget, department heads from parks and recreation as well as public works said that the cuts on their departments will lead to slower response times to fix vandalism, potholes, and lights as well as struggles with maintaining 47 extra acres of park space with a smaller budget.
Parks and Recreation Director Steve Bingham said he hopes to use this as a chance to grow more efficient.
“I don't want to downplay the challenges but at the same time I went through The Great Recession and saw a 20% cut that happened over a couple week period. It allows for an opportunity to be innovative, it allows for an opportunity to create partnerships and it allows us to evaluate every single program on its merits and whether the money we are spending on it best serves our community,” Bingham said.
Quality of Life Director Carol Brey shared similar concerns saying that senior programs will have greater backlog, library hours may be adjusted, office equipment will not be getting updated and that the community schools budget will be losing 40% of its funding.
Community schools is a program run by the Las Cruces Public Schools where local entities and nonprofits come together to offer more support at schools, addressing mental health, poverty and other needs and helps turn schools into “neighborhood hubs.”
In response to hearing about the community school funding, the council voted to amend the budget and fund community schools by taking some money from the Telshore Fund.
During public comment, community member Lucas Herndon said that he was disheartened with the budget and that he would have liked to see more cuts from other city departments.
“Its been said many times and in different ways that a budget is a moral document and the morals of this city council, moving this budget as approved today on the backs of workers with a 1% raise meanwhile the cops continue to get their raises every year year after year, they get their new toys, they get their new racetrack, their new cars with not a blink from anybody on this council. Shameful,” Herndon said.
While the gap between expenses and revenues is not completely closed, Finance Director Lesley Doyle said that they are “much closer and heading on the right track.”
The city has also created two committees that are tasked with finding savings opportunities and to continue to balance the budget.
