They faulted Mayor Keller for having poor communication with the Council in explaining why the Council delayed for a month a vote on the lease for a new NM United soccer stadium at Balloon Fiesta Park.
A high administration official did not offer any olive branch when making their own off the record response:
The comment from an unnamed city councilor feeling left “out of the mix” is tone deaf. Perhaps they're out of touch with the community or just haven't paid attention—the City has been talking about Balloon Fiesta Park as a stadium site since March. If councilors would join the Mayor and listen to the community rather than focusing their energy on petty dynamics with the Mayor, maybe they’d understand how important this stadium is to the families who live here.
Now we depart the Mayor-Council tension and march on to Reader Vox Populi.
FIT AND FAT
A reader writes with a suggestion on how to recruit more APD officers:
It's time to wake up like the military has awakened. Our society is a bit fatter. Does being able to run 1.5 miles in under 13 minutes make a difference whether or not a cop has good judgement? No. We need to completely revamp the physical agility part of the hiring and certification process for police officers. More emphasis should be placed on background and mental health testing and less emphasis on whether or not you can do 30 pushups a minute.
Just look at most officers after they've been on the job 5 or 10 years. They couldn’t run fast across the street, much less a mile or more. And it doesn’t matter. It has no bearing on whether or not that officer can make good decisions. Update our physical standards and let's see how many more cadets go into the police academy. My bet is we will start growing the police department overnight.
PAY THE DOCTORS
Joe, It's disgraceful that the UNMH resident doctors had to leave their responsibilities to demonstrate for more pay. For all their sacrifices, they deserve a lot more respect than what they are getting. We should be grateful to have them here and we should be doing everything we can to support them.
NM has such a shortage of doctors and we should be encouraging them to live and work here after their residencies. With all the surplus money we have in the state there should be a way to pay these doctors who work in a state university hospital the money that they deserve.
CHAOS REIGNS
From the editorial pages of the Rio Grande Sun in Española in Rio Arriba County we get this:
The county has joined the city in showing how government is walking backwards. Budgets are a mess. Transparency does not exist. The city is being run much like the county. Already rumors are rampant that the new administration at city hall is a throwback to the past. There is still no proof that a budget for the city sent to the state is feasible and workable. The council is made up of mostly men and women who are rubber stamps for a lousy, wobbly administration. There are amateurs everywhere and sense of a longer vision. Chaos reigns.
RETIREE DISCONTENT
This is for those members who want to stand up and notify the legislature and governor that they are hurting PERA retirees.
PERA serves 44,115 retirees. There are another 45,000 working members (police, fire, state workers, municipal workers etc). The average monthly retired benefit is $2,804. This means that at least 22,057 retirees are receiving $2,804 or less each month. For the 22,057 members earning $2,804 or less, if they have no other source of income or employment, their monthly health insurance premium (husband and spouse Value Plan) is $731. For those earning $2,804 or less, they are paying approximately $150 federal tax and $70 state tax each month. The net income for these thousands of PERA member each month is $1,853. Out of $1,853 they are our expected to make a house payment, possibly a car payment, pay utilities, food and gas.
Most house payments are over $1,000 per month, so how does the Legislature expect these retired public servants to get by? Social Security enacted a cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 2023 to offset inflation of 8.7%. PERA members received a (COLA) of .5%. On a base salary of $2,804, one half of one percent means these members received a monthly increase of $14.02. Health insurance rates with NM Retiree Health Insurance Authority increase on average a total of $50 each month.
The current PERA COLA does not help retired public servants who have spent decades serving the citizens to offset inflation. The legislature and governor must appropriate some of the huge state surplus to fully fund Retiree Healthcare and to support PERA so it's members can at least receive a fair COLA.
For years the governor and legislature have refused to fully fund Retiree Healthcare, causing rates to go up and costing retirees dearly. If we get full funding, our health insurance premiums night level off.
If you want a better COLA and stable health insurance premiums please contact the governor and legislature. We devoted our lives to serving the citizens of New Mexico. The legislature and governor should acknowledge our devotion and take better care of PERA Retirees.
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(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023
(c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2023