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The Doña Ana County Commission wrapped up their budget discussion yesterday at a final budget work session. Doña Ana County’s $152 million budget is almost ready to be finalized, but Commissioner Rawson says he still has a few problems with the budget.
“You know I think we still have a fundamental problem on the growth rate of county government,” Rawson said. “That’s the biggest concern that I have moving forward. You know we have little things like the sheriff’s department that we continue to need to work on that’s a concern too. We’ve heard about the vehicle situation still not resolved. So, I think there is more work to do, but I think this is as far as the will of the county commission is going to get us.”
This budget includes upgrades to the records management system, an expanded radio service and 29 new vehicles for the Sheriff’s Department. But, Sheriff Enrique “Kiki” Vigil says they still have more problems that need to be addressed, and they could use more funding.
“I know that County Chairperson Billy Garrett said that we would be getting it outside of our regular budget that we get,” Vigil said. “And I hope he’s right about it. You know because we have a lot of needs, radios, vehicles, pay raises in order to retain our deputies that we’re hiring.”
Commissioner Billy Garrett says they are already planning work on the pay increases.
“His concerns specifically had to do with the level of compensation for deputies,” Garrett said. “We’re going to take that up as part of our staffing plan, as we get into the summer. So, it doesn’t need to be reflected right now in terms of the budget.”
Garrett says that the Sheriff’s Department can operate with the current budget, and they can look at additional funding as they year progresses.
“What we have done with this budget is to meet their needs,” Garrett said. “This was a very good process in terms of understanding what was needed, and then making sure that we provided the funds to meet those needs, and the money’s there. A good example is for years we have not really done a very good job at replacing vehicles, and we’ve got money in the budget to address at least part of that and it’s going to take time to build that up.”
Commissioner Rawson says he hopes to see more funding for the sheriff’s needs in the coming year.
“It’s a prioritization,” Rawson said. “And I hope that the county commission will prioritize DASO, the sheriff’s office higher on the list. And if the commission decides to do that there is certainly options on how we can get them additional funding.”
The county commission is scheduled to vote on the budget on July 28th.
