Residents of Portales,
I have been wanting to do this for about a month, and while this will not be a regular
occurrence, I have had a little bit of time for it over the last few days, so here is a city
update.

If you have not seen or attended the last city council meeting, we proposed an ordinance to
raise the cities GRT (Gross Receipts Tax). What this raise will cost in real dollars for our
residents and people that shop in our town is $.61 per $100 of taxable gross receipts. Your
grocery budgets will not be affected as food is not taxed by GRT. The GRT has not been
raised in Portales since 2001, and the costs of goods and services have increased
dramatically.

This GRT raise will be used for paying a competitive wage, hiring more city workers,
purchasing new equipment, creating a bigger budget for road repairs, and more. This will
help the city in tremendous ways.

We are instituting a salary study. This will help us compare and find ways to be competitive
in the job market. Being able to pay our employees more for what they do is the goal.
I have been shown screenshots recently of Facebook posts saying I was going to use a
software program to just find potholes, and that is unequivocally false. If I were to talk to 10
residents and ask them what the worst street is, they would give me 10 different answers.
What this software does is allow us to analyze the streets from the worst to first and most
expensive to least expensive. This, in turn, will allow us to use our limited budget and
resources more effectively.

We have signed contracts with local contractors that will make it easier for the city to get
work completed. With that, when the temperatures warm up consistently, we are hoping to
begin repairing roads with the TPF money that we were granted by the state.
More great news, we have found a new pothole repair compound. This is in a test phase,
but so far it is looking good, and we have ordered more. What this new compound does is
form like concrete and is harder than an asphalt repair. This will hopefully hold up better to
the elements and cut down on our pothole repairs that are hard to keep up with. It is also
easier to apply, cutting down on maintenance time.

As you see, the new dumpsters are coming in and being placed out in town. If you need one
and haven’t received one yet, please be patient; we are only able to do so many per day and
still complete other tasks within the city.

We are working on a public/private partnership that will have great benefits for the city.
While I cannot go into more detail because not everything is complete yet, I can say that
nothing like this has been done in this city before.

We are also working to overhaul our water system and meters. Working with Infrastructure
as a Service providers will help us make the repairs and fixes quicker than we as a city can
do alone. I am proud of the work that the staff has put into making this almost a reality.
While some may feel we are making changes to policies and procedures to just make
changes, that is also not true. We are changing things that require change as per statutes,
zoning, and laws.

I encourage all that have questions to please email me. I am always happy to listen to
suggestions that can help improve our city. Once a quarter, I do a Chat with the Manager,
and everyone is encouraged to attend.

Christopher Moyer
City Manager
citymanager@portalesnm.gov