Española Mayor Alice Lucero will present a mostly flat budget to the state Department of Finance and Administration after the city Council failed to approve a budget at its May 28 meeting.
A preliminary budget is due to the Department by June 1.
Councilors were presented with a proposed city budget April 23 that was $1,066,724 in the red.
During that first budget meeting this year, Lucero suggested submitting a flat budget with all proposed additional spending on hold, with a few exceptions for new positions.
Instead, the Council decided to work with the budget presented to it.
During subsequent review sessions, the Council had department heads and supervisors defend and explain their proposed spending.
Lucero abruptly left a fourth meeting in protest.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Lucero again proposed submitting a flat budget.
Lucero said because the June 1 deadline is for a preliminary budget, councilors would still have an opportunity to make adjustments before the final June 30 deadline.
Interim City Manager Joe Duran told the Council that the city needs to stick to a flat budget for the next few years until revenues rebound.
Duran said a flat budget will ensure certain departments, like Public Safety, aren’t favored over others.
“The fire department is a great fire department that we have here, but I’ll tell you one thing, if the water department doesn’t put out water, they’re not going to be able to fight fires with their empty trucks,” Duran told the Council.
“Everybody helps each other and that’s what the city is, it’s a team,” he said.
“We need to go forward with that. A flat budget is what you need. (We need) a flat budget for at least three to four years so we can go up and start looking at raises for employees,” Duran said. “Employees have gone without raises for a long time.”
A motion to approve the flat budget failed, however, with councilors Robert Seeds, Peggy Sue Martinez, Dennis Tim Salazar and Corey Lewis voting against it.
After the vote, Lucero told the Council that despite the vote, she would still take the flat budget to the Department of Finance and Administration and explain the city’s circumstances.
The $10,242,615 budget Lucero will take to the state Department this week includes an additional half-time custodian for the city manager’s budget, two additional seasonal lifeguards for the city’s Recreation Department, money to cover a police department position previously funded by a grant and an additional position in the city’s Finance Department.
If the state Deartment does not approve the proposed flat budget, it can impose last year’s budget on the city.