Wednesday, June 8, 2005

Water, sewer projects, employee raises top Belen's '06 budget

Haley Wachdorf News-Bulletin Staff Writer; hwachdorf@news-bulletin.com

Belen A new street-sweeper, raises for employees and multiple road and water system improvement projects around Belen were focal points of the $16.5 million preliminary budget approved by the Belen City Council for the 2005-06 fiscal year. The preliminary budget was passed on May 27 and will not be final until OK'd by state officials and given final council approval.

Belen City Manager Sally Garley said the preliminary budget includes a 48-cent-an-hour, $1,000-a-year raise for all regular full-time city employees. Several departments will receive new employees, including the Belen Fire Department, which will be able to afford to hire one more firefighter this year.

Budget season yielded another piece of good news for city employees: no change in health care benefits. Early in the budget season, Garley said, city officials warned employees that, because of rising costs, it might become necessary to switch health care plans, but the city was able to stay with its current plan for this year.

"We had sort of brought that to the table with the employees when we started working on our budgets, but it didn't really become an issue," Garley said. "We were a little hesitant at the beginning, but it's pretty cut and dried. I don't know about a year from now, but this year, we're staying with this plan."

The record $2.6 million in funding the city received during the 2005 legislative session will help the city get started on several improvement projects around town. The city is considering how best to spend $500,000 given for renovations or expansion of the Belen Public Library and also plans to repair Water Well No. 9, which provides water service to the south side of town.

Other projects will have to wait a while longer. Garley said that, on several projects, only a portion of the money that will be needed for completion was appropriated, so the city will embark on design phases for projects such as Airport Road and a gymnasium for the city's new multipurpose recreational building, but will not be able to completely pay for them in this fiscal year. The city typically has three to five years to spend the appropriated money and will work on ways to get the money needed for each project in the meantime.

One unanswered question in the budget plans is how and when the city will be able to recoup its expenses from the unexpected cleanup of asbestos during construction on Mesa Road. Workers struck a section of old asbestos pipe while working to improve the road in January and the subsequent cleanup efforts and project delays cost the city a total of $555,000. Garley said area legislators worked hard on the issue and were able to obtain a severance tax bond for $555,000 intended to help the city with the cost. But questions have arisen about whether the money can be spent for that purpose since the expenditures occurred before the bonds will be sold. The city also plans to apply for a loan through the New Mexico Environment Department in case the severance bonds are not an option, but Garley said that, for the moment, there is no definite answer on the matter.

"We're not really sure we're going to be reimbursed for expenses that have already been incurred," she said. "If the appropriation isn't allowed to us for that purpose, then, of course, at the same time, we're applying for a loan. We want to replenish our budget."

The city does not plan many major purchases this year, with $74,000 budgeted for capital outlay, but among the big-tickets items are $26,000 for a new law enforcement vehicle, $35,000 for a new street sweeper, $12,000 for an industrial riding lawn mower and $12,000 for a Bobcat Skid Steer loader.

Overall, city Director of Finance Mildred Garley said the 2005-06 fiscal budget is frugal, but won't be as tight as the 2004-05 one.

"The current budget was really tight, and so I think we've eased up a little bit as far as operating expenses go," she said. "But we definitely want to provide them the tools they need to do their jobs."

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