Submitted by J.E. Abrams, Edgewood
During a budget discussion earlier this year, the chair of the Edgewood commission stated the annual budget increased to 10 million dollars for 2025-26. Where’s that money going?
Reality check – Revenues have increased over the last five years but not to the level that was stated at that meeting. The actual distribution of state funds into the community has never reached that number and isn’t likely to be there soon unless there is some major shift in the economy or a major investment falls out of the sky that increases Gross Receipts Tax (GRT) revenue to the town. According to the NM Tax & Revenue website, the Town accrues on average about $675K in GRT income monthly. This averages out to an annual revenue stream of about $8M, short of $10M by a bit.
Disregarding the overstatement of town income, but more troubling, is that there is no record of the expenditures for the public to look at without going through the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) process. I ask if the picture is that “rosy,” and how do I tell?
There have been staffing increases in the town. The police force and the road crew have seen staffing double in the last few years. We see weekly news about lawsuits and personnel changes in the town offices. We have seen a few capital improvement projects servicing a few areas (some with few residents) and the bridge over bachelor draw is finally complete (with no inter-connecting trails) …. But a few projects and an increase in personnel don’t seem to make the Town’s accounts balance. Without open publication of monthly reports, the public funds are not being reasonably accounted for. This, combined with the Town’s failures to close the books on annual audits to the State, is very troubling.
Town staff have complained publicly about being overburdened by IPRA requests, prompting a Town Commission discussion regarding hiring outside firms to handle the requests. Now a lawsuit is pending litigation for failure to produce documents. There seems to be something wrong with this new Edgewood Commission Government’s transparency. This is so strange to me, especially after all the past hullabaloo about a
“Need for change to a more open, honest, accountable form of government.”
Perhaps the new Town Government simply can’t provide appropriate public reporting of information? It seems to me that it would save the Town time and effort (I.E., money) preparing IPRA requests if the tally sheets and reports for the month were regularly posted publicly as they once were years ago.