Balancing the checkbook

I’ve talked before about the chemical dependency problem plaguing our area. But now let’s talk about a different kind of dependency, one that afflicts our elected officials, and by default, our communities. It is that of financial dependency.

To do so, we must look back at COVID from a few years ago and the global situation we all found ourselves in. In what can now be effectively argued as downright draconian mandates, in many areas, about closures “to flatten the curve” (promised to last only two weeks, while stretching, in many cases, for two years), many people found themselves suddenly unemployed.

Folks needed help. And thankfully, the federal government and the states stepped up to help their people.

It is unfortunate now to hear of reliable data that suggests much of this money for COVID relief was misused, or outright stolen, benefiting criminals who then got swiftly rich. Equally unfortunate was the unintended consequences of when the money actually did get where it was supposed to – to rural communities and small towns like our own.

There, we all became dependent, either by direct consequence of relief checks delivered to our mailboxes, or to city programs that were never meant to be permanent. The funding has now dried up – COVID is over, telework is now a way of life and larger cities are no longer on the federal or state teat, as it were.

But Las Cruces has lumbered on, clinging to the hope of social programs that many believed would lift struggling residents out of poverty. They resuscitated, over and over again, free stuff long after those programs (to the extent seen in 2020) should have matured beyond necessity.

The city’s subsidized food distribution program has exploded year after year, incongruous with the population increase over the same time periods. And the homeless population, as we’ve discussed, isn’t getting any better.

We, as residents, are now beholden to these programs and their associated expense. Our city is shackled to them and seems incapable of weaning itself off of the significant expenditure requirements, all while the problems these programs were supposed to alleviate seem only to grow.

Last week, the city council asked their finance department to prepare the 2026 – 2027 city budget, which runs from July to June, with the exclusion of many vacant positions, that will now go un-filled, as well as to cut operating costs. Total cuts equal nearly $16 million that the city chose to pursue so as to still have a solvent general fund balance in 2028.

Had they not taken this position, the city’s general fund would have run into the negative in less than two years.

Graphs presented at the meeting clearly show expenditures exceeding revenues. The check book is headed into the red.

And there are some gray areas where funding sources and projects become blurred. For example, will the GRT increase last year, enacted by voters, offset some of the general fund costs going forward? It is projected to bring revenues to the city on the order of $10 million and above for each year in perpetuity.

And I cannot help but recall the single vote where council stripped $28 million out of the Telshor Fund, earning millions in interest annually, to fund a multitude of projects throughout the city. One vote, rather than individual votes for each project, and the city’s biggest source of investment and interest revenues were cut more than half.   

And don’t forget the nebulous missing millions discussed briefly some months ago. Apparently, a previous budget analyst with the city committed a “rounding error”, resulting in the city believing it had approximately $8 million more than it actually had, and began budgeting for that amount before it was found to not exist.

All this to say, the city cannot continue on the path it has already paved. Las Cruces cannot continue to budget in the memory of 2020/2021 relief windfalls while languishing in poverty. And unfortunately, that’s not a metaphor. 

Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona Ana County Resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.