City budget includes $1.50-an-hour raises

Tucumcari city commissioners last Tuesday arrived at a consensus to submit a preliminary budget of nearly $17 million that includes employee raises of $1.50 an hour.

The three commissioners present — Mayor Mike Cherry, Jonathan Brito and Renee Hayoz — didn’t officially make a motion to accept the budget after a special meeting that lasted for more than three hours.

They instead vocally came to consensus to let city manager Paula Chacon and finance director Hallie Ferguson submit the preliminary budget to state officials by the deadline of May 31.

Commissioners Jerry Lopez and CJ Oglesby were absent.

Chacon originally suggested employee pay raises of $2 an hour but instead recommended $1.50 last week after eyeing a significant shortfall in the 2024-2025 preliminary budget.

She said the shortfall would be projected at more than $1 million with $2-an-hour raises. With raises of $1.50 an hour, the projected shortfall would be about $813,000.

Chacon noted the preliminary budget assumes full staffing for all departments. But the city for years has experienced job vacancies of over 20%. With that in mind, Chacon said the city won’t spend as much on payroll as forecast.

“I feel comfortable with $1.50 (raises), that we would be fine,” she said.

She said if a review of the city finances in December proves favorable, she might recommend a 50-cent-an-hour raise for workers for the latter half of the fiscal year.

Chacon said she also was “very conservative” in estimating revenue, inferring it likely would be higher than projections.

Brito and Hayoz said they favored $1.50 raises, but Cherry said he wanted to stick to the $2 hike. He did not object to Chacon and Ferguson submitting the preliminary budget with the smaller raises.

Going over each department’s budget requests, commissioners in particular looked at trimming costs for the water and wastewater departments, both which are projected to run substantial deficits in 2024-2025.

Chacon said part of the reason for the water department’s shortfall of nearly $300,000 was changing its annual rate hike from 4% to 3%. The department also budgeted for three new positions in the coming fiscal year; commissioners whittled that to two.

Chacon also said she was hopeful for more water department revenue when a truck stop under construction on South First Street opens.

The wastewater department was projecting a deficit of nearly $150,000.

Chacon suggested having an engineer on retainer that would help the city fill grant applications and possibly save money.

She also said the city’s water-connection and other fees need to be reviewed, noting they are lower than many other municipalities.