The city commission adheres to its practice of not considering criticism or learning from it, even when a referendum checks their power. More toxic positivity will be imposed and naysayers and truth-sayers will continue to be scapegoated and castigated.
For the second time the people of Truth or Consequences have voted down this financial scheme.
The city's budget for the next fiscal year is being drafted. The people may want to push back on how it's been handled in the past. Hiring outside contractors indicates a lack of in-house competence and is expensive. Is the public paying more than it should for its local government?
A leadership vacuum at the top trickles down to the people having to pay repeatedly for emergency and then long-term repairs.
The state was very good to the city this legislative session, obviously recognizing its waterline crisis.
A great exchange occurred among residents, Spaceport America staff and the company working on its master plan.
Solid waste rates are wildly unfair. It will take years to make them equitable.
I submitted an IPRA for the engineering document that relates to the city's legislative request last year and this year. Finally, I received a relevant document this year; only three pages long, but enlightening.
“You can fool all of the people some of time; you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you can't fool all the people all the time.” Attributed to Abraham Lincoln in The New York Times, August 27, 1887.
What the city commission and chief of police say and what the ballot language says differs. And whether the people can afford to pay for emergency and long-term repairs to the water infrastructure, as well as pay for a "public safety building" has never been asked or answered.
The city received a $7.5-million grant/loan from USDA for a water project, but it comes with interim-financing requirements that are complicated and expensive. The USDA waits until after construction is completed before it gives the grant or loan. The grant is for $2.7 million and the loan for $4.8 million.
We, the poor rate payers whose water rates have gone up about 80 percent in the last five years, hope the city gets both of these legislative requests, otherwise rates are going to go up even more, according to T or C Mayor Rolf Hechler.