June 29, 2010
The New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) began work last week on a stimulus-funded pedestrian bridge near the Belen Rail Runner Express station. The $2.4-million project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The city was awarded the money in June 2009. When complete, the project will provide ramps and stairways from the [...]
May 04, 2010
The New Mexico National Guard 515th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion will return to Belen from Iraq tomorrow afternoon, with a welcome home ceremony scheduled for 4:00pm at Calvary Chapel in Belen. The public is welcome to attend to show their support for the soldiers. The soldiers will be riding in a convoy from Fort Bliss [...]
March 16, 2010
The Belen City Council last night remedied an Open Meetings Act (OMA) violation, bringing the city back into compliance with state law. By a vote of 4-0, the city council approved an OMA resolution that defines the proper public notice for regular, special and emergency meetings. The city is required to approve an OMA resolution [...]
March 03, 2010
During the past 15 months, Valencia! was dedicated to bringing you news and information about Valencia County, starting as a scrappy blog and developing into a respected journalistic enterprise. At its peak, Valencia! received more than 2,500 hits per day, a number that makes us proud. I want to personally thank you for reading our [...]
February 02, 2010
Showing that Valencia County’s economy continues to worsen, the county’s unemployment rate in December rose to 9.0 percent, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the unemployment rate has mostly ticked upward one- or two-tenths at a time over the last year, in December the unemployment rate shot up four-tenths of a [...]
February 01, 2010
The Town of Peralta produced a mid-year report on its budget, showing the town is doing better than many governments in a still shaky economy. The town expected their total general fund to be at $219,000 by this point in the budget year, but because of strong gross receipts in December, the town has more [...]
February 01, 2010
Soldiers in the New Mexico National Guard 515th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, who were station in Belen before deploying to Iraq, say they’re anticipating an early return home from their tour of duty, having arrived in the Middle East last August. “It clearly appears we’ll be home earlier than originally expected. This is good news [...]
January 27, 2010
The Peralta Town Council tonight unanimously approved a nuisance abatement ordinance that the town’s mayor says will give the town and county the ability to stop public nuisances. Because the Town of Peralta is small and lacks resources, it’ll rely upon the county for code enforcement. The ordinance gives the county the ability to enforce [...]
January 27, 2010
Responding to criticism from a small number of Belen property owners, the City of Belen decided last night to continue charging 26 property owners for city services those property owners say they don’t use. The issue has come up multiple times over many years but hit a peak recently after the city wrote the property [...]
January 15, 2010
The Village of Los Lunas municipal judge won’t be getting a pay raise, after three village councilors stopped the attempted salary increase last night. Municipal Judge Jeff Aragon requested a $7,000 pay raise, basing his request on an analysis of judicial salaries in other New Mexico municipalities. He currently receives $55,000 a year, which means [...]