The Las Cruces City Council will meet at 1 p.m. Monday, May 16, 2022 for a regularly scheduled meeting in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St.
City Council will consider a Resolution to adopt the budget for City government’s 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The proposed overall City budget is $515.4 million. In determining the proposed budget City Council conducted a pre-budget retreat Jan. 27, 2022, and Jan. 28, 2022, a work session on March 28, 2022, and a second work session on April 25, 2022. A public hearing on the proposed budget was conducted May 4, 2022.
The City Charter, Sec. 5.06(c) states, “The council shall adopt the budget no later than 30 days before the beginning of the fiscal year.”
The proposed budget is a 10 percent increase from the City’s revised budget for the current 2022 fiscal year.
The proposed Fiscal Year 2023 budget includes 3.5 percent salary increases for unrepresented, non-union City employees, a .5 percent increase in state Public Employee Retirement Association benefits, and a 4 percent increase in healthcare and dental benefits for employees. The budget also will include the establishment of “Lift Up Las Cruces,” a multi-departmental effort of the City to combine resources to improve neighborhoods one at a time.
“Lift Up Las Cruces” identifies needs or concerns within a neighborhood and will allow the City to focus the resources in one place to make a larger impact.
If City Council, adopts the 2022-2023 fiscal year budget it will be filed with the State of New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration by June 1, 2022 for approval as required by state law.
Additionally, City Council will consider a Resolution approving the City’s Capital Improvement Program for Fiscal Year 2023 through Fiscal Year 2028. The Capital Improvements Program (CIP) is a six-year program that identifies the city’s infrastructure and capital funding, and funding needs.
One year of funded projects is followed by five unfunded years identifying future needs. Projects are listed in the following units of City government: Economic Development, Facilities Management, Las Cruces Airport, Parks & Recreation, Public Safety (Police and Fire), Public Works, Quality of Life, RoadRUNNER Transit, Sustainability, Utilities, and Visit Las Cruces. It also identifies non-profit organizations and agencies that are external to City government for which fiscal agent agreements have been approved.
Within each organizational unit, projects may be listed in one or more of the following types: Newly Funded, Carryover, Annual, and Future. Newly Funded projects are intended to receive funding in Fiscal Year 2023 for the first time. Carryover projects are those which had funding in fiscal years prior to the 2023 fiscal year. Annual projects are ongoing projects that receive funding each fiscal year. Future projects are those that have yet to receive funding.
The agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting is available online at https://lascruces.civicweb.net/Portal/MeetingInformation.aspx?Org=Cal&Id=361.
Monday’s meeting will be televised live on Comcast Cable channel 20 and can be seen in high definition on Comcast Cable channel 928. The meeting also will be available online at clctv.com and at YouTube.com/clctv20.