Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: update on New Mexico's land conservation planning and criticism of recent federal and state responses to the Southwest's dire water shortages.
Going against U.S. tradition, the Truth or Consequences City Commission passed a local law that limits property rights that will be enforced retroactively. Since the ordinance doesn't state the law is retroactive, this begs the question whether other city land-use laws or ordinances may be enforced retroactively by city staff.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: steps taken yesterday by the federal government to save the Colorado River (on which New Mexico depends for water) and a legal analysis of whether Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin, convicted of misdemeanor trespassing at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, can be prohibited from holding public office.
The measure on the November ballot is a test of citizen oversight. Vote "no" in the absence of government accountability for how the city will address the infrastructure crisis and how it will spend $3 million in general obligation bonds.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: dissecting the meaning of yesterday's reproductive freedom vote in Kansas.
The city commission's "public" representatives on a committee that will weigh whether to dissolve the court are the city manager and an ex-city commissioner.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: the influence of high oil and gas prices and the industry's political contributions in New Mexico's 2022 election.
The biggest budget the city has ever passed, a final budget massively different from the draft budget, and yet no questions and no discussion from city commissioners.
Must-read reporting and commentary from around the state and the country. Today's intelligence: the high cost of and possible remedies for New Mexicans' record rates of alcohol abuse.
In the 17 years I've watched the Truth or Consequences Planning and Zoning Commission, there has only been one set of board members who upheld the law and fulfilled their duty to act as a check and balance on city administrators and the city commission.
The ICIP yearly update is required by the state to ensure the city is planning and prioritizing infrastructure projects at least five years ahead. It's supposed to be a continual and transparent process, informing the community and city commission about why projects are needed and in what order.
Other cities fund their government services with taxes and use utility fees to operate, maintain and replace that utility's infrastructure. Not T or C. Now the infrastructure is failing. The solution? Raise taxes.