The Belen City Council approved this fiscal year’s final budget on Monday night, expressing caution that the budget remains tight because gross receipts tax revenue remains lower than expected.

The vote was 3-0. Councilor Wayne Gallegos was absent.

The budget anticipates general fund expenditures of more than $4.9 million. It anticipates general fund revenues of almost $4.3 million. The difference is made up through transfers from other revenue sources.

The general fund balance at the end of the 2010-2011 fiscal year, assuming gross receipts revenues come in as projected, is just above $3,000.

With the budget so tight, the city is continuing to operate with extreme caution.

While there has been discussion of additional cuts because of weak gross receipts, no decisions have been made.

According to the city’s finance director, Michael Steininger, the city can look at cutting capital projects, like the roof repair for the municipal court, or budgeted purchases, like needed equipment, before further affecting staff.

The City of Belen is working with a water system manufacturer to help the company build its manufacturing facility in Belen, creating at least 40 new jobs.

Founded in 1997, FastDitch Inc. manufactures open-channel, thermoplastic water flow systems used for things like irrigation, water diversion, storm water control and other uses.

The product, called SmartDitch, has been used in places like Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico, and Durango, Colorado.

The company is owned by a family of engineers and farmers from Vallecitos, New Mexico.

Maria Montoya, who works with FastDitch, presented information about the company at Monday night’s city council meeting, telling the city council she hoped to company can build in Belen.

She said the 30,000-square foot facility might be constructed in the Rio Grande Industrial Park, if the company can get financing.

The purpose of the facility is to begin manufacturing the company’s next generation of water flow systems, made from 95-percent recycled plastic. She said it would house the Southwest’s largest injection molding machine.

Montoya estimated initial job creation at 40, from technical to administrative, and estimated the company could be up and running in Belen within a year and a half.

The city is working with the company to streamline planning and construction of the facility.

The City of Belen and YES Housing Inc. announced on Monday night a $1.7-million renovation of La Hacienda Apartments on North Second Street.

The city is working in collaboration with the Albuquerque-based nonprofit community development group.

The two-story La Hacienda Apartments have been the site of criminal activity and a problem for neighbors.

The apartment building was foreclosed on by Charter Bank in late 2009, which gave YES Housing the opportunity to begin to negotiate the purchase.

The project will use neighborhood stabilization funds from the federal government’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

According to YES Housing, the property should be acquired by September and will be under the ownership of YES Housing for at least 20 years.

YES Housing provides a process for tenant screening, selecting tenants with good credit and in good standing at their previous residences.

A new bridge in the Los Lunas area could actually mean a new interchange for the City of Belen.

As the Mid-Region Council of Government continues its Los Lunas corridor study, two primary routes for a new interchange and bridge are being evaluated. Those routes are near Miller Road just north of Los Chavez and Morris Road just south of Los Lunas.

Despite all of the proposed routes being so far north, the interchange options under consideration near Miller Road are actually within Belen city limits.

Los Lunas is in red and Belen is in green.

The study has a long way to go, and it’s unclear which interchange option will ultimately be recommended for the construction of a new interchange.

A new interchange in Belen, however, could have the benefit of providing opportunities for economic development, boosting gross receipts tax revenue.

Up until this week, it had been unclear exactly how far north Belen’s city limits go, after the city annexed the area west of Interstate 25 in 2006, because the study hadn’t clearly shown the various county and municipal jurisdictional boundaries.

Councilor Jerah R. Cordova requested the information to get a better understanding of the effect the issue could have on Belen.

The Greater Belen Chamber of Commerce is seeking participants for the Valencia County Fair Parade, which is scheduled for Saturday, August 28.

The parade is a great venue to “celebrate our unique and diverse community and businesses,” said Rhona Baca Espinoza, the chamber’s executive director.

This year’s theme is “The Spirit of the Wild West.”

For more information call 864-8091.

United States Rep. Harry Teague will host and moderate a town hall meeting on Sunday to discuss the recently released Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) flood maps and their impact on Valencia County.

The town hall starts at 3:30pm at the Los Lunas Transportation Center.

In addition to Teague, a panel of floodplain engineers and representatives from FEMA, Valencia County and Los Lunas will be in attendance to discuss issues and answer questions.

Teague organized the meeting to address confusion that has arisen as a result of updated flood maps released by FEMA that may affect insurance rates and requirements for some area residents. The panel will help to answer residents’ concerns.

The county commission has until August 19 to adopt the new flood map and study.

The updated FEMA flood hazard area maps are available in the code enforcement office on the first floor of the county administration building at 444 Luna Avenue in Los Lunas.

The City of Belen’s gross receipts tax revenue ended the current fiscal year down more than $549,000 from projections.

While each month’s gross receipts taxes varied in loss, February was the worst month with a 10-percent loss.

The loss in June was also significant — approximately $100,000 under projections. The total amount received in June was $391,000.

The budget for the fiscal year beginning in July, however, is based on gross receipts tax revenue averaged around $435,000 a month.

In other words, should monthly gross receipts tax revenue continue to come in below next year’s anticipated amount, the city will have substantial operational challenges.

Because of the June’s loss, on Monday night the Belen City Council approved furloughs for all city employees, including the mayor and city councilors.

The furlough days will be taken one day each month on the month’s first holiday, days the city government would normally be shut down. That allows for city services to remain mostly unaffected.

Each furlough day is expected to save approximately $11,000.

The unemployment rate in Valencia County fell by one percent in April, the largest decrease in unemployment since the economic downturn in the fall of 2008.

The unemployment rate for April 2010.

The unemployment rate decreased from 10.5 to 9.5 from March to April, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In April, the City of Belen and Los Lunas Schools approved layoffs due to deficits, yet the rate still shows a decline.

Exactly one year ago, the unemployment rate fell from 6.9 to 6.6 percent but has been on the rise since then.

The City of Belen on Tuesday submitted a hospital site proposal to Valencia Health Commons, offering nearly 14 acres of land near Camino del Llano for the construction of a hospital.

The site proposal provides a detailed look at what the city is calling the Healthcare Hub, the area of clustered medical facilities near the Camino del Llano interchange.

The Healthcare Hub includes Presbyterian Urgent Care, Belen Meadows Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center and the private medical practice of Roland Sanchez, among other medical-related facilities.

More than $22 million of infrastructure has been invested in the Healthcare Hub during recent years by the city and Belen Consolidated Schools — things like roadwork, waterlines, drainage and the Belen High School Career Academy’s nursing program.

At least four sites will be under consideration:

• Approximately 60 acres owned by the Valley Improvement Association near the intersection of Hillandale Avenue and the Manzano Expressway in Rio Communities;
• Approximately 14 acres owned by the City of Belen near the intersection of Christopher Road and Camino del Llano in Belen;
• Approximately 20 acres owned by a private individual near the intersection of Christopher Road and Camino del Llano in Belen;
• Approximately 10 acres owned by a private individual near the intersection of Don Luis Trujillo Boulevard and the Interstate 25 (I-25) Bypass in Belen.

The hospital is expected to need three acres, plus parking.

Three of the four proposed sites have been offered as a donation, if possible. The site near the I-25 Bypass has a price.

“The city is interested in a comprehensive comparison of all of the proposed sites,” Belen City Councilor Jerah Cordova told the Valencia County Commission on Wednesday night.

During the county commission meeting, Commissioner Pedro Rael cautioned the city about trying to donate land to Valencia Health Commons, a private nonprofit corporation, because the New Mexico Constitution typically disallows donations to corporations.

Internally, city officials have had extensive discussions of the law to ensure compliance, should the city’s proposed site be selected.

Work on the reconstruction of the North Belen interchange halted Wednesday, less than four months after it became clear the project would run out of money.

The interchange was being reconstructed to provide access to Rancho Cielo, a master-planned residential, commercial and industrial development west of Los Chavez.

While the state funded $4 million of the design and reconstruction work, Rancho Cielo’s developer, Coast Range Investments, never provided the remaining millions needed to complete the project, as had been promised in a three-party agreement among the developer, the State of New Mexico and the City of Belen.

According to officials with the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT), a letter has been sent to Coast Range Investments telling the company it’s too late to contribute its portion to complete the project.

NMDOT is terminating the project’s construction contract.

Demobilization of the construction crew and the delay in completing the project will substantially increase the cost of completing it in the future, should Coast Range Investments seek to restart construction. The project will also need to be rebid.

The interchange project was embroiled in controversy in February when city officials and others found out the developer was refusing to contribute the funding needed to complete it.

The construction crew and NMDOT are expected to address a couple of minor issues related to paving and lighting in the coming weeks.