Las Cruces City Council was presented with a semi-annual police audit report from the OIR Group at a work session Monday, March 11, 2024, in Council Chambers at City Hall, 700 N. Main St.
Source: City of Las Cruces
OIR Group presented its independent findings of completed Las Cruces Police Department (LCPD) Internal Affairs complaints from June 2023 to Dec. 31, 2023. OIR’s review included seven internal investigation cases initiated by LCPD and 12 external cases from formal citizen complaints.
Additionally, the OIR Group provided findings of its review of four civil litigation cases during the last six months of 2023. A copy of OIR Group’s Fifth Semi-Annual Audit Report to City Council is available at this link.
The goal of OIR Group reviews is to determine if LCPD’s handling of each case was complete, objective, and thorough, and that actions taken by LCPD were appropriate in response to those investigations. OIR Group is in its third year as the City’s independent police auditor.
Also at Monday’s work session, City staff members presented a progress review of the development of Fiscal Year 2025 City budget to City Council. The review included a recap of the annual budget retreat conducted Feb. 15 by City Council.
The City Council was informed that revenues generated from the collection of cannabis excise taxes are projected to reach approximately $845,000 for the current fiscal year. This contributes to a total cannabis revenue of $1.8 million for the period spanning from April 2022 to June 30, 2023. Cannabis tax revenues, collected from retail sales of non-medical cannabis products sold in Las Cruces, are unrestricted revenues for the City and could be dedicated by City Council for any projects, programs, or services for city residents.
Two possible uses of cannabis excises tax revenues suggested to the Council included funding for metropolitan redevelopment areas within the city or to establish a Real Time Crime Center.
City staff also informed the Council that the City’s share of an opioid settlement with distributors, manufacturers, and retailers is expected to reach $9.9 million over a 17-year period. Those revenues are restricted, and the use of those funds will be governed by the terms of a settlement agreement. Doña Ana County is receiving a separate distribution of settlement funds, projected to total $14.4 million.
Some examples of how opioid settlement funds could be used by the City include the support of mobile intervention, treatment, and recovery services; training for first responders on medication-assisted treatment; housing, transportation, education, job placement, or job training for residents in recovery; partnerships with non-profit and faith-based communities to support residents in recovery; media and public education campaigns to prevent opioid misuse; drug take-back programs and events; and youth focused programs to prevent drug use.
Mayor Eric Enriquez said he would support a future joint City Council/County Commission work session to discuss how to best utilize the projected revenues.
Next steps in the development of the City’s Fiscal Year 2025 proposed budget will be a public hearing and City Council work session on Monday, April 22, 2024. A proposed Resolution to formally adopt the Fiscal Year 2025 budget is tentatively scheduled to be presented to City Council on Monday, May 20, 2024.
