Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The Tucumcari City Commission on July 27 approved a final budget for fiscal year 2022 that shows a deficit of about $417,000 and assigns spending cuts to city departments ranging from 2% to 7%.
The commission chose the department-by-department spending-cut option after considering other choices, including one that would accommodate increasing the minimum wage to $11.50 per hour with pay raises of 2% to salaried employees and $1 per hour for hourly employees but made no other changes.
That choice would have raised the deficit to more than $825,000, finance director Rachelle Arias said.
The commission voted unanimously to adjust that option by assigning percentage cuts to departments.
The commission also voted to reduce the required general fund reserve to 20% from 25%, which increased cash available for allocation to other areas and would help reduce the projected deficit, Arias said.
Arias recommended the change in the reserve as a means of reducing the deficit.
The combination of assigned departmental budget cuts and the adjustment to the reserve policy reduced the projected deficit nearly in half, to the $417,000 gap projected for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
The commission also approved Arias’s report on city finances at the end of fiscal year 2021.
The city finished the year with a positive cash balance of $2.6 million, Arias said, which would be more than adequate to cover the projected deficit.
Arias attributed the positive balance to conscientious department heads who watched their spending during the year.
During the April 27 meeting, commissioners discussed ways to prevent large expenses at the end of the year by departments deciding if they don’t spend all the money they are allocated, they would lose it the next year.
There was some agreement that quarterly budget meetings with department heads would result in more efficient allocations during the whole year, preventing big spending at year’s end.