City approves preliminary budget

The Tucumcari City Commission on Thursday approved a preliminary budget for the next fiscal year that begins July 1 that leaves a $622,000 deficit in the general fund but a positive balance of about $91,000 overall.

The commission voted 3-1, with District 1 Commissioner Ralph Moya casting a “no” vote, to approve one of three options City Manager Britt Lusk and Treasurer Rachelle Arias presented in a two-hour public work session before the regular meeting Thursday.

The option the commission approved would allow the Tucumcari Police Department to fill three of five existing vacancies and the Tucumcari Fire Department to fill one vacancy and fund half of another, Arias said.

Lusk emphasized the vacancies affected do not affect the jobs of existing employees.

“Some vacancies in non-emergency situations will not be filled,” he said.

Overall, Lusk said, based on his review of comparable New Mexico city budgets and his previous experience with the city of Hobbs, Tucumcari has more city employees than many other comparable cities in the state.

“We have the same number of employees as cities with 7,000 to 10,000 populations,” he said.

Tucumcari’s population is about 5,000.

Lusk said he and Arias had reviewed departmental budgets with the heads of those departments, and those heads attended the work session Thursday.

At the end of the work session, a few said they were grateful for the opportunity to meet with Lusk in the budget planning process, which they said was unprecedented.

The general fund is expecting to receive $4.6 million in tax revenues for the fiscal year, which begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2020. The overall budget, however, includes utility funds financed by fees charged for services such as sanitation, water and wastewater treatment services; lodger’s taxes; and state-funded purposes such as street and road repair, senior center programs, and some law enforcement and firefighting functions.

Including the general fund and other funds that generally are restricted in how they can be used, the budget totals about $16.5 million, according to budget documents provided to the commission.

The preliminary budget the commission approved Thursday must be submitted to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration by June 1. After DFA review, a final budget for fiscal 2020 must be approved by July 30.

The commission Thursday also tabled the renewal of the city’s $50,000 contract with Sunny 505, the advertising and marketing agency, for another year. The city hired the agency in April 2018 to develop marketing, branding and advertising the city with an emphasis on tourism.

Sunny 505 was created in January by a merger between Griffin and Associates, which signed the original contract, and a Santa Fe advertising agency.

Commissioners on Thursday complained that billboards advertising the city through the state’s New Mexico True campaign included Tucumcari’s name in letters much smaller than those for “New Mexico True.” Lusk said that was a requirement of New Mexico True guidelines.

Besides billboards, however, Sunny 505 handles media advertising and public relations efforts, including placement of articles and mentions in publications and social media.

Lusk also said lodger’s tax revenues had increased from about $600,000 this year to $630,000 this year, and he said Sunny 505's campaign was the only factor he could think of for the increase.

Moya said he would like to know thoughts of the city’s Lodgers’ Tax Board on renewing the contract and wondered whether the agency should help the city advertise specific events.

Lusk cautioned the agency should not have to answer to “too many chiefs,” adding there should be a single point of contact between the city and the agency.

Lusk said in his view, the agency has done a “wonderful job” to promote Tucumcari, and noted its professional expertise in marketing and advertising.

The commission also:

• Approved a contract with Axiom CPA and Business Services, an Albuquerque accounting firm, to audit the city’s financial statements for fiscal 2020. The amount of the contract is $43,500, according to the proposed agreement.

• Authorized B’s Crew Softball to host a softball tournament June 15 at the city’s softball field. Lusk said the tournament, sponsored by Brenda Lopez of Tucumcari, would involve more than 50 people, so a permit was required. The tournament is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. June 15.

Lusk and City Clerk Angelica Gray proposed new guidelines for public comment at city commission meetings that include moving the comments to the beginning of the meeting and allowing presenters to speak for three minutes, but not allowing discussion or debate of the comments.

Moya objected to the idea because people who speak to the commission are “looking for answers” and should be able to expect them at commission meetings.

The commission did not take action on the proposal.