City of Gallup discusses axing many activities

By Bill Donovan
Staff Writer

GALLUP — City officials are talking about belt-tightening which means that there may be changes afoot for the new Aquatic Center and the El Morro Theater.

Mayor Harry Mendoza and members of the city council met Monday to talk about next year's city budget, and a lot of the talk centered around the fact that during the Mendoza administration the city will not have the money that was available during the Bob Rosebrough years.

During the Rosebrough years, the city raised millions of dollars through bonds, and Mendoza is finding that paying these bonds back is not leaving much money for new services.

In fact, City Manager Eric Honeyfield said, 93 percent of the city's budget is in recurring expenses, which means that if there are any cutbacks, it will have to be with the remaining seven percent of the budget.

That is why the Aquatic Center and the El Morro Theater were discussed during budget hearings held by the city council this week.

The Aquatic Center costs the city about $450,000 a year to operate. The Harold Runnels pool is slightly higher. Neither bring in anywhere near that much revenue, and city officials have been discussing ways to either bring in new revenue or cut expenses.

Increasing the fees may be a hard sell, Honeyfield said.

People are used to paying $7.50 or so to see a movie, but because the centers are owned and operated by the city, the public expects that the fees will be at or below the actual operating costs.

He did suggest the possibility of curbing the center's hours during off-peak months, saying there are times when the aquatic center is not used very much, and the city can achieve some savings by reducing hours during those times.

As for the El Morro, the city purchased the historic downtown landmark during the Rosebrough years and spent about $1 million - $1.1 million if you include planned renovation of the bathrooms - to put in new seats, a new roof and generally spruce up the facility.

In addition to this, the city is expecting to spend some $165,000 for personnel and operating expenses next year. Revenue is expected to be bring back only a small fraction of that amount.

Honeyfield feels that is why that the time has come to privatize the operation, leasing it to a private company.

The city probably would not be able to charge anything for the lease, but he said the savings would come from the cost of city personnel who currently run and maintain the facility. That is expected to be $83,750 next year.

The personnel would not be fired, but would instead be transferred to other city departments, which is what the city did several years ago when it leased Red Rock Park to a private company.

Honeyfield was asked how the city would be saving money if it transferred employees from one department to another. He replied that the city's attrition rate is so high, that within a year or so, the city would be seeing some significant personnel savings by the privatization.

If the facility is leased, Honeyfield said some restrictions will be put in the contract prohibiting certain kinds of events, like heavy metal and hip-hop concerts.

The city has learned from experience that young people who attend these kinds of concerts have a tendency to get wild during the performance, and there is risk of vandalism to the facility.

But it is not only the building city officials are worried about. Honeyfield said in the past there have been times when not only was the building vandalized, but other parts of the Gallup's downtown as well.