Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
City Manager Jared Langenegger Thursday proposed a city government reorganization plan to the Tucumcari City Commission but did not seek action on the plan.
Mostly, he said, he would want to hire an assistant city manager to help him oversee the operations of 18 city departments.
“Ideally,” he said, “the span of control for any manager should be no more than five to seven direct reports.”
Hiring the assistant, he said would cost the city $97,000 a year in salary and benefits. The salary would be about $66,000 a year, he said.
Langenegger said he questioned the feasibility of adding the assistant manager position when the city is facing general fund deficits of $256,000. He added, however, that the deficit budget includes a $400,000 contingency fund that could cover the deficit.
The fund this year, he said, includes $685,000 in one-time expenditures, an unusually high amount of extraordinary expenses.
District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya mentioned that gross receipts taxes have been increasing over the last four years.
Langenegger said much of that is due to construction projects and that he would be hesitant to base any decisions on continuing increases in gross receipts taxes.
The general fund’s total in 2016 was about $2.3 million, according to state documents.
Langenegger said he wants to further examine the city’s financial situation and discuss organizational changes with the city commission before proposing the assistant manager position and asking the commission to approve it.