Belen’s four mayoral candidates addressed a number of issues affecting residents and businesses during a candidate forum last week, each offering their ideas for Belen.

The forum was hosted by the Belen High School Student Council, with students asking questions and about 100 seniors listening to the responses. The public was not allowed in.

No candidate was asked the same question, except for a question about taxes, and the responses below aren’t necessarily indicative of candidates’ priorities.

Tibo Chavez Jr.

Tibo Chavez Jr., a local attorney, said he’s seen a lot of changes in Belen during the past three decades, including good growth and a faltering Main Street.

“When you have so many boarded up buildings on Main Street, it’s the type of thing that’s difficult to deal with because it’s not the Belen that I knew. It’s not the vibrant business community where we could shop for gifts, go to all kinds of different restaurants, or have places where you could shop for clothing,” he said.

He wants to create new jobs in Belen, fighting to save Signet Solar’s 600 jobs, a company which has been denied a federal loan guarantee that’s left construction of its Belen manufacturing facility in doubt.

“Since the railroad came in, there hasn’t been any other company that can offer 600 jobs for this area,” he said. “We need to fight for it every way we can — petitions, city hall, our congressmen and so on.”

He said there’s no reason why anyone should have to move out of Belen to find a good job.

On crime, he wants to fight it in part by forming neighborhood watches and coordinating with the district attorney and attorney general for prosecution of crimes.

He also wants city hall run like a business and more responsive to the needs of the community. For example, he wants to do away with the automated phones at city hall so a caller can speak with a real person instead.

“We can make city hall a place where people are proud to go,” he said.

Chavez said he wants to make Belen greener both in terms of trees and grass but also curtailing pollution.

“We always have to do things to make sure that upstream from Albuquerque, from industries, we’re not getting polluted down here,” he said of the Rio Grande.

He also wants Belen to initiate more recycling.

“There’s a little bit of recycling being done here in Belen. A lot more recycling could be done,” he said.

The way people toss trash from their vehicles is “disgusting,” he said. He would like to see a few signs warning against littering and showing the amount the person could be fined, coupled with better enforcement of a fine.

On taxes, Chavez said Belen has one of the highest sales tax rates in the state. He wants to balance a need for lowering taxes with the city’s need to provide services and projects.

“How can we in Belen compete with Los Lunas or Socorro and other communities that are doing well when our gross receipts tax is higher? We need to bring that tax rate down so that we are competitive, so we can bring in businesses,” he said.

Wayne Gallegos

Wayne Gallegos, a former fire chief for the City of Belen and current city councilor, said he first ran for office two years ago to deal with flooding in Belen.

“My priority is to continue with the flooding issues in the city. The economy will be good or bad, but it’s still going to rain and snow,” he said.

Gallegos said he’s concerned that there’s no money for flood control, but if flood projects are completed a little at a time the city can put an end to flooding.

His second priority is economic development.

“We can do something. We have to get together and work hard on that,” he said.

On illegal drugs, Gallegos said we can deal with the problem by having the Belen Police Department work on it.

“The drug problem is not going to go away. It’s been here for a long time, but if we all get together we can do something about it,” he said.

He would seek more funding for the police department.

He would also work with Belen Consolidated Schools, lauding the Belen High School Career Academy.

On taxes, Gallegos said he doesn’t think it’s realistic to lower taxes and any candidate who says he or she will lower taxes is placating voters.

“Government works on taxes, folks,” he said. “We need to tax people to get libraries. We need to tax to get fire stations. We need to tax people all the time. That’s where the money goes to.”

He said everyone wants lower taxes.

Rudy Jaramillo

Rudy Jaramillo, a restaurant owner and current city councilor, said there’s a lot the city has done that’s good but also a lot that needs improvement.

“I know that we need growth,” he said, adding, “We strive to get businesses to come in here.”

He said his focus would be on helping existing businesses stay in Belen, building a strong business community that businesses outside of Belen will want to join.

“We need to start inside our city,” he said, adding, “We need to ask them what the city can do to enhance their business.”

When asked how he would expand the city to compete with Los Lunas, Jaramillo struggled to answer the question at first, partly because he didn’t hear the question.

He then said the city needs to take a look at available buildings and land throughout Belen. He also pointed to the farmers’ market and art galleries as a direction to continue moving in.

“The only way that you can expand is with businesses that are profitable,” he said.

He wants to provide jobs.

“There are jobs that are promised from these big companies. But we need to look at the businesses that are here already and take care of them,” he said.

On taxes, Jaramillo said government can’t function without taxing people.

“We all want to see a lower tax, but to lower a tax is taking away from the areas you all are enjoying today,” he said, noting school buildings are constructed with tax dollars. “Taxes are a reality.”

Arturo Sais

Arturo Sais, who works as the interim city manager for the Town of Peralta, said he most concerned with the city’s budget.

“We can’t be spending like a drunken sailor. That’s the bottom line,” he said, calling for “change.”

He said the city’s annexation of Rancho Cielo west of Los Chavez is “fine,” but not what he would’ve done.

“We better look at our infrastructure here in Belen before we starting growing out,” he said. “I see Los Lunas. Los Lunas is not a well-planned city, I’ll tell you that right now. They’ve got a lot of problems.”

He said the city shouldn’t be throwing money into Rancho Cielo, especially without being more involved in the planning stages of the development.

“It can’t be a half-built project which later on could easily become a junk pile we’ve got to get rid of,” Sais said.

He said there’s no need to thwart growth, but the city must plan for it.

Asked about building a hospital in Valencia County, Sais said he was “all for it,” calling the hospital planning “shoddy” and saying he wants to plan progressively for all projects.

He said it’s up to the Valencia County Commission to decide what to do, acknowledging the fight over the location but taking no stance on which location is best.

“A hospital enhances the community and its quality of life,” he said.

Sais said he was concerned about Belen’s gross receipts tax, and other taxes like property and hospital taxes. Instead of high taxes, he prefers creative financing and budgetary foresight.

“We need some positive thinking. We know we live in a good community,” he said, pointing out he’ll have an “open door policy.”

Voting in the Belen municipal election is underway right now at city hall, and will continue until Election Day on March 2.

This page was published on February 1, 2010 at 12:40pm and is filed under Politics.