Roosevelt County finalizes preliminary budget

PORTALES — The Roosevelt County Commission met for close to two hours Thursday morning to finalize the county's preliminary operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which will go before the commission for approval on Tuesday.

The commission budgeted about $8.43 million in revenues, up from $7.7 million in the previous fiscal year. The county received $1.2 million in capital outlay for road improvements, vehicles, fairground upgrades and renovation of the detention center kitchen and laundry area. County Manager Amber Hamilton said the county also saw slight growth in property and gross receipt taxes.

For expenses, the county budgeted just under $9.4 million, up about $500,000 from the previous fiscal year. Hamilton wrote in a message to The News that primarily the increase comes from capital purchases and increased salary and benefits costs for employees.

Commissioner Tina Dixon was present for the beginning of the meeting before leaving partway through, while Commissioner Dennis Lopez was absent for the meeting which saw the commission and county officials go through the budget for each department.

Commissioners trimmed close to $300,000 from the budget during the meeting, including over $100,000 for new vehicles from the road budget, the county's largest expense at about $3.6 million.

The commission is scheduled to vote on the budget during Tuesday's commission meeting, scheduled for 9 a.m. in the commission room at the Roosevelt County Courthouse.