GRANTS, NM – A special Grants City Council meeting was held on Friday May 19, at 2 p.m. to award lodger’s tax funding to local businesses and nonprofits in Cibola County, as well as discuss other matters including electing a new mayor pro tempore. The businesses that received funding included Fire & Ice Bike Rally, New Mexico Mining Museum, Grants MainStreet Project, Inc., American Legion Riders Chapter 18, among others.
The meeting began with discussion about electing a new mayor pro tempore (vice mayor). Mayor Eric Garcia spoke about his thoughts on the position, “Everyone should have a turn at this role so we all can get on the same page, so we all can continue to move forward.” Councilor George Garcia is the current mayor pro tem. The council did not change the position due to “lack of interest” after Councilman Fred Rodarte refused to move a motion to nominate himself and no other council members nominated a new mayor pro tem.
At this meeting there was also a request for approval from the Grants Fire & Rescue to purchase a new fire engine to replace an older model. Chief Robert Hays spoke about their reasoning for this request, “We try and maintain a good fleet of vehicles… We want to replace the one that has been giving us problems.” The council moved forward a motion to approve the purchase of the new fire engine.
The Grants Police Department also requested approval to purchase new Golden Eagle radars to assist officers on duty. The radars will be used in speed enforcement, traffic accidents, and traffic enforcement. All officers will also be trained to use the new radars. Chief of Police Maxine Monte spoke about the reasoning behind their request, “These are some things that we are missing at our department.” The council moved forward a motion to approve the purchase of new Golden Eagle radars.
Businesses and nonprofits requesting lodger’s tax funding came before the council to discuss their proposals for funding, what their entity does in the county, and their reasoning behind the amount of funding requested. Every group that came forward with requests during the meeting received approval for funding from the council.
The lodger’s tax funding awards are given each fiscal year and businesses submit proposals for funding to the lodger’s tax board, if the board approves the request, they send it to the Grants City Council for approval. The lodger’s tax funding is used for advertising, publicizing and promoting tourist attractions, facilities, and events in the city of Grants and surrounding area.
Due to the new lodger’s tax ordinance, all groups that were awarded funding this year need to rewrite their proposals and include new events that were not included in the previous proposals. These groups need to rewrite their budget and proposal by July 10 and deliver it to the city clerk and schedule a meeting to get their contracts signed.
There will also be new quarterly report procedures for businesses. Each business will be responsible for filling out and sending a formatted spreadsheet that includes all the financial information to the city clerk.
If anyone needs assistance regarding the lodger’s tax ordinance, they can contact Grants City Hall at 505287-7927 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.