Gallup budget cushion would pay for crisis

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — As the Gallup City Council prepares to approve a budget for next year within the next couple of weeks, there are uncertainties about the future.

The council is already looking at trimming some $600,000 from next year’s $27 million budget to provide a cushion in case gross receipts tax revenues go south in the next few months.

But that may be only the tip of the iceberg as city financial officials report that the city may be facing millions of dollars in extra expenses that are also included in this year’s budget.

Take, for example, those recent water main breaks in the Indian Hills section of town. In the space of two weeks, four water mains, installed in the early 1980s, broke because of exterior corrosion.

Instead of just patching them up and taking a chance that they will break again, the city is looking at replacing them.

The estimated cost to do so is between $250,000 to $500,000.

The city is also looking at a potential cost of as much as $2 million to deal with concerns by the New Mexico Environmental Department for the city’s use of the Chiaramonte Mine just north of the city limits as a storm drain.

The city has been using the mine to deal with the extra water flow during storms for more than 30 years but City Attorney R. David Peterson said the state has questioned this practice because the city never got a state permit to do so.

That $2 million includes the cost redesigning the Bubany neighborhood water retention flow or developing new retention basins.

But Pederson said there’s another problem. If the city does plug up the mine and stops putting storm water in it, there’s a chance that when the mine dries out it could affect the foundations of homes on the north side.

The city is also looking at having to spend as much as $5 million to provide effluent pond setbacks for the four fields at the Sports Complex. There’s also another fee of $200,000 to $500,000 associated with this expense for the one-time cost of cleaning up the effluent pond.

The city will have to find $319,288 that needs to be paid in June for the first payment for the new Law Enforcement Public Safety Building, although the city could agree to split the first year into 12 monthly payments.

But once this is paid, the city would be obligated to pay the second payment of $319,288 in June 2010.

City officials said there were also some judgments and settlements pending that would cost between $75,000 and $150,000.

The city is also talking to the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration about an administrative complaint dealing with the city’s water discharge last summer.

A potential fine is involved, according to city officials, but no amount has been listed.

Another potential cost is to fix the irrigation system at the city golf course but no money amount was given on this as well.