Curry approves 2023 budget

Curry County is presenting a budget to the state for approval for fiscal 2023 that will be $5.8 million lower than the budget for fiscal 2022.

The Curry County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved the smaller fiscal 2023 preliminary budget, which must now be reviewed by the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) before a final budget is compiled and receives final approval by July 30.

Fiscal 2023 begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2023.

County Manager Lance Pyle told the commission the county is “in very good financial condition.”

He said the county currently has reserves of $4.4 million, or the equivalent of nine months of operating expenses, even though it is required to keep reserves of three months under state law.

When asked why the county holds so much more than required in reserves, Pyle said the added reserves help the county acquire grant funding, because they show the county is on solid financial ground. In fact, Pyle said, he would prefer for the county to hold a full year’s worth of operating expenses in reserve.

Pyle said the 2023 budget is smaller than the current year’s budget because some county construction projects in the current year’s budget will be completed.

General fund revenues, which are covered by local taxes, are projected to increase by about $1 million to $20.4 million, compared to $19.3 million in the current fiscal year, Pyle said.

Of the total expected for fiscal 2023, about $9.2 million is expected to be in property taxes, compared to $9.1 million expected for the current fiscal year, ending June 30.

Without the addition of cannabis sales, Pyle said, the county is expecting to receive $9.7 million in gross receipts taxes in fiscal 2023, compared to $7.5 million for the current fiscal year.

Pyle said the state asked the counties to hold off on projecting tax revenues from cannabis sales until the state receives its first reports of proceeds from the newly legalized adult-use cannabis. The first reports of cannabis sales proceeds are expected this week, according to the DFA.

General fund expenditures for fiscal 2023 are expected to total $17.6 million, $694,883 higher than the $16.9 million expected to be spent from the general fund in the current fiscal year.

The road department is expected to receive more than $1.7 million in transfers from the general fund in fiscal 2023, compared with less than $1.3 million in the current fiscal year, Pyle said. The Curry County Events Center is expecting $925,239 in general fund transfers in fiscal 2023, compared to $519,469 in the current fiscal year, he said.

The county is expecting to add three additional full-time employees to its payroll in fiscal 2023, bringing the total to 183 full-time employees, Pyle said. The three new employees include an information technology network administrator, who will earn $47,131 a year; a maintenance supervisor expecting to earn $49,517 annually, and an appraiser trainee, who will earn $28,762 per year.

The three new employees will also receive benefits totaling $125,410 for all three.

The payroll also includes eight part-time employees, Pyle said.

Pyle added that the largest expenditures outside of salaries and benefits include more than $1.5 million for jail inmate medical expenses, more than $1 million in liability insurance, $430,000 in inmate meals, $350,000 in juvenile inmate housing that is less costly than the $839,000 the county spent per year to operate its own juvenile facility, and $275,000 for road and sheriff’s department fuel expenses.

The county is also receiving $525,000 in capital outlay funds allocated by the New Mexico Legislature, Pyle said, including $200,000 for the Events Center, $100,000 for the road department mostly to purchase a new pickup truck, $100,000 for other construction, $75,000 for renovation and improvement projects, and $50,000 for new information technology equipment, Pyle said.

The county also expects debt obligations to total $20.4 million, most of which is in a $14.8 million revenue bond to cover construction costs to renovate the Curry County Detention Center. Other debt obligations include an additional $3 million for renovation that involves both the detention center and the Curry County Courthouse, Pyle said.

Other debt obligations include road department equipment, fire apparatus for county volunteer fire departments, and a body scanner for the detention center.

In other action Tuesday, the commission

• Continued a fireworks ban until at least its next meeting at 9 a.m. June 14 in the County Commission chamber at 417 Gidding St. Clovis.

•Noted the retirement of Fire and Safety Director David Kube after 20 years with the county and recognized Kube’s successor Michael Booth, who will also act as the county’s fire marshal.