City discusses options for pay raises

Two city officials during a work session Thursday for the fiscal-year 2023 budget outlined plans to give substantial raises to employees to lessen the city’s competitive disadvantage with other municipalities.

However, the city also is facing possible deficits in two funds because of large-ticket items, despite robust tax revenue overall.

Acting City Manager Mark Martinez, noting some city employees are paid barely above the minimum wage, proposed step increases of 38 cents an hour for each year of service. The current minimum wage is $11.50 an hour, with it scheduled to increase to $12 by Jan. 1.

Another option is to give raises of $1.50 an hour across the board.

Martinez said the city has not kept up its pay scale to employees since 2015. He said Santa Rosa and Guadalupe County are offering $18 to $20 an hour for similar positions.

He said the city needs to make a more concerted effort in “paying employees what they’re worth.” He said that would help retain workers and assist in recruiting.

“We have vacancies in every single department,” Martinez added.

City commissioners agreed with Martinez’s assessment that pay raises were needed, though they didn’t voice a preference on how much.

Mayor Pro Tem Ralph Moya noted the local McDonald’s restaurant was offering $13 an hour, and the city’s cemetery workers still were being paid less than $12 an hour.

“Somehow, we need to stay competitive,” he said.

In response to a question from a commissioner, finance director Rachelle Arias said some city equipment needs to be replaced due to age.

But Martinez said pay raises are the higher priority.

City commissioner Paul Villanueva said he received more complaints about street conditions and a lack of employees to repair them.

Martinez said the city can purchase newer equipment, but it will only sit there if there aren’t enough employees to use it.

“The only way of keeping employees is to pay them what they’re worth,” he said.

Arias said the city received about $3.9 million in gross-receipts tax revenue in the 2022 fiscal year — an increase of nearly $400,000 from the previous year.

Moya estimated tax revenue from recreational marijuana sales might generate $300,000 to $400,000 a year for the city. Arias, however, said she hasn’t budgeted for that. Legal recreational marijuana sales began April 1.

Arias noted the city soon would have to open a new cell at the landfill at an estimated cost of about $1.6 million. The sanitation department, she said, holds only $1.5 million in cash reserves. The new cell would put the department in a deficit.

Arias said the landfill’s tipping fee of $46 a ton was the second-highest in the state.

Arias noted a $1.1 million shortfall in funding the wastewater-reuse plan because of inflation. The project would pipe treated wastewater to a sprinkler system that would irrigate a 300-acre plot next to the wastewater treatment plant on Tucumcari’s north side. It would prevent water from entering streams in violation of federal environmental laws.

Martinez said sewer fees were scheduled to increase 2% next year, but a 4% hike was recommended instead.

Arias cautioned that according to a state analysis, the city has less than a half-year in available cash before it would be depleted, which she said was “horrible.”

City commissioner Mike Cherry, noting a lack of data to compare that to other municipalities, wasn’t as sure the assessment was that grim.

“In the absence of things, I don’t know if it’s good, bad or indifferent,” he said.

City commissioners are scheduled to give final approval of the budget by July 28 before it’s submitted to the state.

Comments, reports

• During his city manager’s report, Martinez said he participated in a webinar that described a regional recreational grant for up to $1 million that may be available without a required match from the city.

Martinez said such a grant would be used to rehabilitate the Tucumcari City Pool, which remains closed because of a large leak. He said, however, that the grant wouldn’t be large enough to cover the cost of a new, indoor recreational facility.

Responding to a question from Moya, Martinez said he still has not received repair estimates from pool contractors because they were too busy to come to Tucumcari. Martinez said he also has not receiving bonding information.

• Acting police chief Pete Rivera said the city’s police department had only eight positions filled on its 14-member force. He said several officers also would be unavailable later this year because they need to attend out-of-town training.

Rivera said because of the manpower shortfall, Quay County sheriff’s deputies and New Mexico State Police have been assisting with some calls.

• Martinez said the city recently spent $14,000 on an emergency repair on a water pump at Tucumcari Municipal Golf Course.

• Martinez and Mayor Ruth Ann Litchfield said they received many compliments about the annual Fourth of July fireworks show at the Elks lodge.