Thursday’s biggest news was that the Governor has lifted the state requirement for face coverings to be worn in most indoor places, including schools. The decision on masking in school swill be now left up to local governing bodies, and individual students may still elect to wear their masks.
Our school system is working through a lot right now, up to and including teacher shortages and substitute shortages. Many of our educators feel like they are at their breaking point. We hope the removal of the mask requirement will lift some of the pressure on our students and teachers and allow our educational system to get back to normal.
An indoor mask mandate does remain in effect for congregate settings, including hospitals, long-term care facilities and detention facilities. Private businesses have the right to adopt their own policies. COVID-19 numbers have dropped rapidly over the past month, and let’s hope it stays that way.
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The 2022 Legislative Session ended at noon on Thursday. The bill most important to us, SB 137, was not heard on the House floor. The lengthy debates around some other topics took up the final few hours of the House’s deliberation process.
SB 137 would have created a partial path forward in allowing the City of Carlsbad to address the issue of changes in the gross receipts tax code. The state benefits greatly from all of the oil and gas work that takes place in Eddy and Lea County. This industry creates jobs and it has led to our area’s population boom.
Unfortunately, the change in 2019 meant that gross receipt taxes are now based on where a service takes place, not where the business that provided the service exists. This is an even trade in some places, but communities such as Carlsbad and Hobbs are taking a devastating hit. Our gross receipts revenue dropped by about 34% due to this change, while the state is reporting a similar increase that came as a result of our loss.
Thanks to our City Council and our finance and administration department, our city runs on a very conservative budget. However, we are still looking at significant hiring freezes and reducing many of our budgets. This is, again, during a period in which all of the hard work in our area is paying the state’s bills. All we are asking for is a fair system allowing us to make sure that we provide services to the businesses and residents who are providing all of this work.
Senator Gay Kernan did an excellent job of introducing the bill and obtaining bipartisan support. Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb joined me in speaking in support of this bill, as did several labor unions. Thank you to Missi Currier, with Strategies360, for all of her effort in organizing our response.
At this point, we will regroup and discuss our options. The good news is that the entire state is now aware of this issue.
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Correction! We mistakenly left off two names in yesterday’s article about the state wrestling tournament. Luke Waters and Nathan Lewis will also be competing in the state tournament this weekend. Best of luck to everyone.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway