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The Doña Ana County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the $364,446,382 budget at its regular meeting on July 23.
The budget outlines the services to be provided and covers the period from July 2024 through June 2025. According to county finance director Asma Dawood, this year’s budget required the county to dip into its reserves for about $74 million to pay for a slew of one-time expenditures.
“We’ve seen in the past several years that we usually receive revenues higher than budgeted, and expenditures are lower than our budget, and we end up adding to our reserves,” Dawood said.
Like nearly all New Mexico municipalities, gross receipts and property taxes are the primary driver of revenue for Doña Ana County. For the upcoming fiscal year, the county expects to receive around $84.4 million in GRT and $56.3 million in property taxes.
The new budget also included money for increased pay for some staff based on newly negotiated union contracts, a new staff attorney and a public information officer for the Doña Ana County Sheriff’s Office.
Operating costs largely drove the increase in expenditure. Some of those costs included repairs to fire trucks, new lights for the 3rd Judicial District Courthouse and new radios for DASO.
Next, the budget will be sent to the state Department of Finances and Administration for final approval.
