Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PORTALES — Commissioners on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution opposing the potential relocation of asylum seekers at the border to Roosevelt County and calling upon border patrol to re-open checkpoints in New Mexico and west Texas.
Roosevelt County Commissioner Tina Dixon brought forward the resolution and voted in its favor along with commissioner Paul Grider and chairman Shane Lee during a special meeting Thursday afternoon. Commissioners Dennis Lopez and Matthew Hunton voted in opposition.
“This is not in any way something that I’m setting forth to do because I don’t want to help someone else,” Dixon said in the meeting. “But I don’t think we should use county funds and resources to do this.”
Dixon said she was not aware of any active requests on county resources from asylum seekers and that the resolution was preemptive. She told The News she “fully supports non-profits and churches” in helping those individuals as able, but that “we just don’t have it in the budget for Roosevelt County” and “need to take care of our constituents and people.”
Lopez said he believed Dixon had “good intent” but that some of the language of the resolution was “speculative and discriminating” and unfairly characterized people who are fleeing desperate situations.
Hunton said he “somewhat” echoed Lopez’s concerns and had “a lot of problems, more with the wording, not the intent” of the resolution. He said he completely agreed that Roosevelt County did not have the financial resources to support a large hypothetical influx of asylum seekers, “even a couple hundred” of which “would be detrimental” to budget and infrastructure.
“Roosevelt County is an impoverished county with very limited resources, and is not equipped to handle, even on a small scale, the placement of asylum-seekers within its communities as neither Roosevelt County nor local governments within Roosevelt County have the human or financial resources to house these individuals, nor the social or medical services to accommodate these individuals,” says the resolution.
The commission next meets June 25 at 9 a.m. in its chambers at the Roosevelt County courthouse. Also at Thursday’s commission meeting:
• Approval of a preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2020, with an adjusted general fund balance of $1.992 million and 1.997 million in reserves. FY20 projected revenues ($8.442 million) and expenses ($9.396 million) exceed those of FY19, which showed projected revenues and expenses of $7.747 million and $8.828 million, respectively.
• Approval of a resolution authorizing an application to the New Mexico Department of Transportation for a capital improvement project to 3 1/2 miles of Sundale Valley Road, which serves as a primary access point to the Melrose Bombing Range and as a bus route for Floyd Municipal Schools. Projected total costs are just over $258,000 of which the county will supply five percent and any costs exceeding that estimate if approved. County Manager Amber Hamilton said she was “optimistic” for the application, “because it is very much needed for Roosevelt County.”
• Approval of a contract with the Department of Finance and Administration for up to $275,000 in reimbursements toward kitchen and laundry renovations at the Roosevelt County Detention Center.
