Cibola County Pulls U-Turn, Earning Awards

During the 25th annual New Mexico Infrastructure Finance Conference held in Albuquerque at the end of October, Cibola County was recognized by the State of New Mexico for Best Practices in Finance for fiscal year 2022. The County also recently received the Most Improved County in The State award by NM State Auditor Joseph Maestas and former State Auditor, Brian Colon. This is a sharp turnaround from four years ago when the county was in freefall and believed to be insolvent. According to Paul Ludi, Cibola County Finance Director, “The county lost its bond rating. Investors lost faith. The only other county in the US to do that is Orange County, California.”

Ludi, who used to be a printer and had a background in carpentry, moved into the finance world after realizing that fatherhood required earning more money than he was making at the time. After graduating from NM Highlands University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business, he learned the ins-and-outs of economics in a Princeton University summer program, returned to Highlands and completed a master’s degree in Management. In Santa Fe, while working on Budget oversight for Catron County, he met Kate Fletcher.

“I begged him to come here,” Fletcher laughed, referring to Ludi. Fletcher, originally from England, found herself in Catron County after her husband decided the city of London was too much for him. He wanted wide open spaces. They’d met in California where Fletcher had been working opening restaurants for a London-based hospitality firm. “I was managing restaurants at age 18. I love managing. I love challenges. I was opening restaurants at 21. My father- in-law lived in Catron County. I’ve now lived in New Mexico longer than I lived in London,” Fletcher said. Her start in government was a part-time job in Accounts Payable for Catron County.

At the end of fiscal year 2017, Cibola County had the worst possible audit a county could have with 18 audit findings that needed to be addressed, and the County had not submitted an audit on time since 2010. The County Commissioners asked Michael Steininger, Special Director from the NM Department of Finance and Administration to help get the books in order and oversee operations until a new Manager could be found. Shortly after that, Kate Fletcher was recruited and accepted the job despite being warned that it was a “bad career move.” In 2020, there were 14 audit findings. In 2021 there were only three findings with an unmodified opinion.

Fletcher began the job of managing Cibola County in 2018. “I was a manager in Catron County and had cleaned them up in five years. I looked at audits. There was a lot of mismanagement and abuse. It was a challenge, and I like challenges. I reclassified my team,” Fletcher said. “From nine staff to four. We keep the books clean, cut expenditures, got rid of all the credit cards and take-home cars. We cannot buy water and coffee just for us for our meetings. We pay for it ourselves. Every time we make a decision, we ask ‘is this right for the County?’” “I commend Kate and the commissioners. They’re the reason the county is in such good shape,” Ludi said. “We get recommendations for the budget, and Kate and I look at those. The department heads are great now. We addressed strengthening internal controls. Money wasn’t missing - just mismanaged,” Ludi added. In the turnaround from troubled to now award-winning county, Fletcher focused on retraining and helping staff better understand their jobs so they could do their job better instead of firing people. Staff were moved around so that they were doing jobs that they were good at and that they liked. “My staff should not deal with politics. My job is to protect them from politics,” Kate Fletcher said.

Gloria Pargas, of Isleta Pueblo, works as a Budget Analyst and joined the county team last year after over twenty years in the banking business. Though her background is in agriculture, the NMSU grad was flexible enough to allow life to simply happen. “My parents pushed us to get out and see more. I love finance and budgeting. It suited me. I worked for the Grants State Bank until TBK bought them.” She moved into government at that point working for the Village of Milan and the City of Grants where she quickly became the Finance Director. Her years of banking and city finance work prove invaluable to her as she reviews and analyzes the county’s budget. “If it’s not documented, the finances for a government entity can go south really, really fast,” Pargas said.

Finance, Procurements, Management, Projects, Payroll/HR, and Accounting really form the nucleus of the County team, and according to County Manager Kate Fletcher, “We can’t do our jobs without communication from all departments.” The success of Cibola County is truly a team effort that Ludi, Fletcher, and Pargas reiterated throughout the conversation.

Ludi said that in the past, department heads didn’t know what their budgets were. Because of the county’s commitment to staying on track for its citizens, Cibola County has been budgeting at a national standard and has been recognized by the GFOA (Government Finance Officers Association). Only four other NM counties are also budgeting at a national standard - Bernalillo, Lea, Los Alamos, and San Juan. “This is one of the most fun jobs that I’ve ever had,” Ludi said.