Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Arch Hurley Conservancy District’s manager seemed resigned that a minimum-wage bill in the New Mexico Legislature would be enacted, thus increasing the district’s cost at least $50,000 to $60,000 a year and leading to significant hikes in assessments for many landowners.
District manager Franklin McCasland told the board of trustees last week that a Labor and Veterans Committee substitute for House Bill 25, known as the Minimum Wage & Indexing Act, would hike the hourly minimum wage from $12 to $13.50 on Jan. 1, 2024, increase it to $15.50 on Jan. 1, 2025, and would tie future pay increases to the consumer price index.
McCasland said the measure has met opposition to the service industry sector, but Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state Democratic leaders have made its passage a high priority. The bill recently advanced through committee on a partisan vote.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s coming,” he said. “I see this happening.”
He said the bill’s estimated impact on Class A assessments would be $1 to $1.25 per every acre for each dollar the minimum wage is increased.
McCasland also said Senate Bill 28 serves as a substitute to hike the minimum wage if HB 25 stalls in the Roundhouse.
In other board business:
— McCasland stated in his manager’s report that Conchas Lake’s water elevation stood at 4,162.6 feet the morning of the board’s Feb. 14 meeting. That was 0.3 feet lower than the previous month.
The lake received just 462 acre-feet of water in January with 625 acre-feet of evaporation and other losses.
The district has gone two straight growing seasons without allocating water to farmers because of drought. The district typically diverts water from the lake to its irrigation canals only when the level is above 4,174 feet.
The U.S. Drought Monitor as of Feb. 16 showed eastern New Mexico in extreme, severe or moderate drought conditions. Though dry conditions have eased in the western half of the state, about two-thirds of New Mexico remained in a drought.
— The board approved increases of $15 an hour for custom work equipment prices.
“We have to be able to keep up with our costs on maintenance and fuel,” McCasland said.
— McCasland said the district’s maintenance department still is removing sediment from a canal at the T-4 Ranch and applying bentonite to a few sandy areas to lessen water loss.
He also said the district is looking at other methods to burn brush from ditches because of the difficulty in obtaining propane.
— McCasland said in-house repairs to a John Deere excavator saved more than $13,500 in estimated labor costs.