$2-an-hour raises suggested for deputies, road workers

Quay County’s manager suggested $1-an-hour raises for most employees and $2-an-hour pay hikes for sheriff’s deputies and road workers during a budget work session Monday for the forthcoming fiscal year.

Daniel Zamora recommended the bigger raises for the county’s highway department, which has been struggling to fill positions for months, to make its pay more competitive. That would bring the pay for workers with commercial driver’s licenses to $16 an hour. The pay could be as much as $19 an hour for a mechanic’s position.

Commissioner Jerri Rush noted because the road department has six unfilled positions, it left it with $220,000 not spent on salaries. She wondered whether the department could continue with current staffing levels.

Commission Chairman Robert Lopez both said an understaffed road department means it would need time extensions to finish current projects. Road superintendent Larry Moore said it would require hiring private contractors to finish some projects, “which is not cheap.”

Zamora said the $2-an-hour raises could bring a sheriff’s deputy’s pay to $19.88 an hour.

For the county jail, Zamora recommended a $1-an-hour raise, saying they are among the county’s least-qualified workforce. However, those corrections officers would be sent to training for a week or two in July that would make them eligible for another raise worth 75 cents an hour. Inmates would be transported to other jails in the region during the training period. After training, those officers would receive $16.54 an hour.

Quay County Clerk Ellen White suggested increasing the allowable carryover of vacation time. She said many employees in short-staffed departments — especially the jail — were unable to use allotted vacation time.

Moore suggested a retention bonus for employees.

Zamora said the county’s total payroll would rise to about $3.8 million. The county commission is slated to approve a budget during its next meeting May 22 before it’s submitted to the state.

Other items from Zamora’s proposed budget:

— He said property tax rates would not change. The county’s collection rate is rising slightly, and residential properties were seeing an 8% increase in valuation, compared to a 3% hike in non-residential properties.

Rush expressed concern about the effect to the budget if residences, which she said she believes are overvalued, drop in valuation during a recession. Zamora and future county assessor Dana Leonard pointed out the county is capped on 3% assessment increases per year, and it didn’t raise it this year.

— Zamora suggested a somewhat different approach to the county’s hospital fund and hospital improvement fund.

Administrators for Dr. Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital in Tucumcari typically request $250,000 from gross receipts tax funds and a mill levy each quarter. Zamora suggested the hospital provide more detailed reports about its expenses and revenue each quarter. He said if the hospital doesn’t need the subsidy, the county can keep those funds instead as “seed money” for the construction of a new hospital.

“We will continue to budget $1 million for them, but there are things we’d like from them,” finance director Cheryl Simpson said.

“Let’s help them become better community partners,” Zamora said.

— Zamora suggested using $1 million of the $1.2 million leftover in federal American Rescue Act coronavirus relief funds as part of construction money for a new hospital. The money must be used by 2024.

— Commissioners recommended cutting the county’s subsidy of the Greater Tucumcari Economic Development Corporation from $50,000 to $30,000.

The extension office is requesting a budget increase from about $94,400 to about $108,700, but it noted it has carryover funds from a long-unfilled position. Tucumcari MainStreet increased its request from $10,000 to $15,000.

The USDA’s animal control service asked for an increase from about $35,000 to about $43,000. Rush suggested $40,000. The USDA said its efforts stopped about $153,000 in livestock predation in the past year.

— Noting the county has about $155,000 in accumulated administrative fees from state grants used for the Quay County Family Health Center in Tucumcari, Zamora suggested using about $80,000 that to repair or replace a leaky roof at the clinic. Commissioners endorsed that idea.

— Noting a recent presentation by District Judge Albert Mitchell Jr., Zamora suggested upgrading the security cameras at the courthouse. Zamora then asked commissioners for other proposals.

Commissioners suggested adding a latch to the front door of the county clerk’s office, repairing one of the balky doors at the east courthouse entrance and purchasing a second automatic defibrillator for the building.

Unexpected bill

An early part of the meeting was spent discussing an unexpected $151,000 bill from the state’s General Services Department to retroactively collect money for health-insurance benefits.

County officials learned about the bill from an email over the weekend. Apparently the authorization to retroactively bill counties for health benefits came from the big HB 2 spending bill approved by the New Mexico Legislature earlier this year and signed into law by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

“The part that offended me is nobody knew about this,” Simpson said of the billing. Zamora said Lea County is facing a $1.3 million bill.

Zamora and other county officials watched a videoconference hosted by New Mexico Counties during the work session.

Zamora said the region’s two lawmakers — state Sen. Pat Woods and state Rep. Jack Chatfield — didn’t inform the county about the forthcoming billing. Nor did the county’s lobbyist, Clinton D. Harden & Associates.

Joy Esparsen, executive director of New Mexico Counties, said the state hadn’t raised health premiums in six years.

“This is what happens when the debt comes due,” she said.

One official from Sandoval County described the lack of health insurance increases for years as “a $200 million problem.”

John Garcia, deputy county manager of Sandoval County, said the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the state’s woes within its health system.

“The reason this exists is because they governor didn’t address this prudently,” he said. “Here we are, holding the bag for a problem we didn’t create.”

Grace Phillips, the attorney for New Mexico Counties, said there was nothing in state law to apply for the billing and nothing in HB2 to authorize it. She advised that no county pay the bill until legal staff assesses the situation.

She said it’s possible counties could file a class-action lawsuit if Lujan Grisham doesn’t call a special session to address it.

After McKinley County said it wouldn’t pay the bill, Zamora left the videoconference.

“We’re not paying it,” he said.