Hooray! Transparency comes to the city's capital outlay lobbying process, thanks to City Manager Gary Whitehead. The city will be much more prepared for the legislative session and city commissioners, lobbyist and staff will all be singing from the same sheet of music. Add your voice to the chorus.
The city's police department, between chiefs of police, didn't investigate calls reporting Ferguson Sr.'s child abuse of his son, which made the city liable for his death.
Property taxes versus utility bills to pay off debt to improve infrastructure--which would you rather pay? Both money sources are being used to address critical water and wastewater and road repairs by the City of T or C. Property taxes don't hurt the poor as much as utility rate increases.
It's little enough that Love's asked for in exchange for locating here. Some companies make cities compete for the jobs and taxes they bring. This time the city is getting the better end of the deal.
It's backing up. It's overflowing. It's close to the Rio Grande. Fixing it is finally a priority.
Whitehead to the rescue, along with "water bear." Looks as if the city was disregarding warnings about violations to its sewer-water-discharge permit, until Whitehead came along. He was a tad too late to prevent an administrative order being handed down by the feds, though.
The T or C middle school is 40 years old and has a lot of problems. The school district's facilities master plan lays out the costs of repairs vs. new building, and new looks better, especially considering NMPED's possible match for a new building. Taxes will NOT go up.
Poly-cart customers have carried the costs of the city's solid waste department since it opened its collection center in 2013. The city imposed the suggested rates from the Parkhill study, now 1.5 years old, which didn't straighten out the inequities in the fees, but did quantify them.
Thank goodness the city is receiving about 70 percent grant money of the $60 million needed for capital projects. Local citizens will be paying off another $15 million in debt, which doesn't include interest.
Walmart has essentially set the local minimum wage at $15 an hour--which the city hasn't beat for years. The second compensation study in the last three years once again establishes market rate and competitive pay.
Linked article: Remember that July 2021 flight at Spaceport America that had Sir Richard Branson on board? Virgin Galactic didn't report what went wrong for a few weeks--the flight went off course. Investors sued, and won, claiming the company exaggerated flight safety, jacking stock prices that subsequently fell.
With the July 2020 flood and dam failure creating ongoing liability to the city, with the Office of the State Engineer requiring it be fixed "timely," this project became a priority. It will cost $9.725 million in engineering fees and construction costs, if the bids come in within budget.