City Council addresses questions and concerns over proposed budget

Members of city council have had a night to sleep on Monday’s budget, and today they came together to address any concerns.

Three city representatives pointed out concerns they had regarding their districts. Peter Svarzbein had six items having to do with parks and recreation, economic development and museum and cultural affairs.

City rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez asked about capital improvement and street maintenance projects in her district.

New city rep. Cassandra Hernandez Brown requested more information about three different parks and recreation projects in her district.

City staff including city manager Tommy Gonzalez were there to clarify things.

The other representatives and mayor Dee Margo also chimed in with questions. overall– everyone appeared to be on the same page with the proposed budget.

Margo said his priority is making sure things are properly funded, and no short cuts are taken.

“My position is, we either do it right, or we don’t do it. Make the decision accordingly to the total cost of what the project is. If it’s beyond our budget or capabilities — don’t do it,” Margo said. “But also don’t do it piecemeal, and then come back to have and reconcile that.”

City rep. Claudia Ordaz Perez is now one of the veterans on city council, and she says she’s pleased with how talks went today, and the new direction city council is taking.

“I think people really wanted to see professionalism,” Ordaz Perez said. “They wanted us to get to work, stop the in-fighting. The number one issue we deal with is public trust. I think with this group — they come from a wide range of backgrounds. They all come with different skills and it’s been great so far.”