近距离内射合集

LAS CRUCES 鈥� City officials will contemplate a more austere budget for the next fiscal year after the city鈥檚 finance director advised them that spending is on an unsustainable course.

Lesley Doyle, who has been in the job just over a year, outlined options for shaving spending by as much as $15.8 million in a combination of operating cuts and closing current job openings.

Doyle also presented a timeline showing that Las Cruces鈥� annual general fund expenditures have outpaced revenue since the 2023-24 budget year, driven mainly by wages, insurance, retirement and other personnel costs, which account for 72% of the proposed budget.

Under the current draft, general fund spending would be $180.7 million 鈥� nearly an 8% increase from last year. Doyle said that includes $130.3 million in personnel costs and $50 million in operating costs.

What began as a $6 million gap between money coming and money going out in fiscal year 2024 trended sharply upward, according to modeling Doyle presented to the City Council, with the city proposing to spend $15.3 million more from the general fund than it would take in under the proposed budget.

The result is a cycle of spending down general fund balances rather than building them up. By her projection, the city could begin the 2028 fiscal year with a $32.2 million balance and end with $14.6 million. Doyle said those balances could be used up as soon as the 2029 fiscal year, putting pressure on mandatory reserves, without a course correction.

鈥淲e would have nothing to budget in subsequent years because we would have completely utilized all of our fund balance,鈥� Doyle said.

The city tightened its belt in the middle of the current fiscal year, as well, after Doyle discovered an error that had caused the city to overstate its general fund balance.

Doyle said city departments had been asked to bring their budgets back to fiscal year 2025 levels to help hold down operating and capital expenses. The city had also made progress on reducing debt service and other strains on the general fund and reviewing funds across the budget.

鈥淲e looked under every rock to find any available funding that we could utilize and bring back to the general fund,鈥� Doyle said.

Nonetheless, she said the budget brought to council for approval in May will include 2% wage increases as planned.

Although there were no formal votes taken at the work session, the councilors directed Doyle to proceed with the most conservative option, comprising $7.8 million saved through eliminating vacant positions and $8 million through operating cuts.

The City Council鈥檚 newest members weighed in, with Councilor Michael Harris suggesting looking at budgeted vehicle purchases for less expensive options and Councilor John Mu帽oz recommending a review of costs for overtime. Both took office in January.

鈥淲e got here because we made a serious investment in our greatest asset, which is our people,鈥� Councilor Johana Bencomo said. Like colleague Becky Corran, Bencomo said she had no regrets about supporting wage increases and a decision by the city to absorb part of increased insurance costs to protect employees鈥� take-home pay.

Mayor Eric Enriquez recommended departments review solutions found during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-23, a time when he served as assistant city manager. Enriquez said the crisis forced the city to focus hard on 鈥渉ow we were going to conduct business and what was vital to the community, what was absolutely needed and what wasn鈥檛.鈥�

鈥淚 think we need to go back and review some of those things as an organization,鈥� the mayor said.

Algernon 顿鈥橝尘尘补蝉蝉补 is the Journal鈥檚 southern New Mexico correspondent. He can be reached at adammassa@abqjournal.com.