Guadalupe Receives Report From Consultant About Financial Crisis

Felimon Perez and his son moved to Guadalupe a couple weeks ago.

Perez said he did not know about the financial hardships the city is facing prior to the move, and is concerned about the talk of disincorporation and the city losing its emergency services.

“If they take those services away Guadalupe is going to take longer to respond, so we need those services right here,” said Perez.

The city’s mayor, Francis Romero, agrees with Perez and says last week law enforcement was called to deal with a murder that “took the sheriff almost a half an hour to arrive.”

Romero says, “That’s exactly the type of thing that would happen in this community if we are no longer a city.”

City leaders met Tuesday night to talk about three items on the November ballot that officials say would keep the city operating on its own.

One of those measures is a 25 cent sales tax; the second is a 5 percent utility tax; and the last proposed measure is a business tax, which means for every $100 a company makes the city will get a quarter.

The mayor and council members say a consultant hired to investigate the city’s current financial crisis told them if all measures are passed the city will hit a point where it will facea short-term cash flow shortage.

Romero told KCOY 12’s Cory James the good news is that the city has enough money to borrow from its waste and waste-water funds to cover the shortage until money from the three proposed measures start coming in.

Guadalupe official says the money will be paid back and notes that they will only be able to borrow money from special funds if all three measures are passed.