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Public Safety, Tourism and Infrastructure Top ARPA Spending Priorities for Las Cruces

The city of Las Cruces is seeking to use some American Rescue Plan Act funding to support public safety programs, tourism and community and economic development initiatives.  

Part of the almost $24.8 million will go toward making up for the city’s pandemic-related revenue loss.  City Grants Administrator Amy Johnson Bassford says that while no layoffs or cuts to city services occurred, the loss was still significant.

“We did find that approximately $6.9 million was lost by the city…we did experience a loss, and that loss does continue to reflect on our day-to-day work operations,” Johnson Bassford said.

City Interim Chief Budget Officer Matthew Saenz says the $6.9 million can go toward capital projects. Providing additional funding for current GO Bond projects like the Animal Services Center was recommended.

“This is the only category in which we're allowed to use that towards the infrastructure improvements,” Saenz said.  “And also, this is directly related to the pandemic with costs increase for labor and materials.”

$2 million is being proposed to support the city’s public health and safety response. This will include the addition of two surveillance trailers, doubling the current amount the police department has on hand. Las Cruces Police Chief Miguel Dominguez detailed how the trailers can deter commercial burglaries.

“It's all real-time, so wherever we're seeing spikes in crime,” Dominguez said. “For the pandemic specifically, we were seeing a lot of commercial burglaries. People were breaking in through the backs or the rear entrances and windows of certain businesses. So, we were able to deploy these trailers and surveil them where officers weren't necessarily having to go by, but we were able to kind of see them through a mobile app.”

Councilor Johana Bencomo says that while she understands the extra surveillance needed during the pandemic, she’s concerned about over-policing.

“Yeah, I can definitely see how this probably could have come more in handy in the middle of the public health orders given that, you know, businesses were closed temporarily,” Bencomo said. “Now that, you know, those orders are lifted, now that we're getting a little bit more back to normal, I'm nervous about the potential of over-policing in certain neighborhoods.”

One of LCPD’s current surveillance trailers has already been placed in downtown Las Cruces, something Councilor Kasandra Gandara voiced support of. She says she welcomes the addition of more trailers.

“I'm really glad that the smart technology with the surveillance trailers are part of this, I think it's an important piece of technology,” Gandara said. “I do know that having it in the downtown, we’ve deterred quite a bit of crime, property crime and break-ins.”

$1 million is currently slated to go toward Visit Las Cruces with the hope of revitalizing the tourism industry post-pandemic. $300,000 of that is budgeted for the website, visual assets and social media, something Councilor Gabe Vasquez questioned.

“If someone asked me to give them $300,000 for a new website, visual assets and social media, I would be like, ‘What?’ It’s a crazy astronomical number to me, the cost on that,” Vasquez said, “So I'm wondering if you could break down that cost a little bit more, because that's a really, really high price.”

Paul Dahlgren, the media publications manager for Visit Las Cruces, says funding would be spread out over several years. Targeted areas include a new website, a cost Dahlgren estimated could be as high as $50,000. He also noted some of the funding will be used to purchase artwork for public spaces.   

“About $10,000 for just actually getting artwork at the convention center, because some of those spaces are quite large, and we'd want to do something that would be durable,” Dahlgren said. “And same for the airport.”

Vasquez also suggested Visit Las Cruces promote the cannabis industry, pointing to cannabis tours in Colorado that have become tourist attractions.

“I think we need to be promoting the cannabis industry here in Las Cruces,” Vasquez said. “I think this is going to be the single largest source of tourism for Las Cruces, and I'd hate to see us miss out on an opportunity to do this.”

More information on the spending plan will be presented to the council on August 9. The work session is slated to cover community and economic development initiatives.

Madison Staten was a Multimedia Reporter for KRWG Public Media from 2020-2022.