After years of overspending the City of Las Cruces, like Albuquerque, faces a budget deficit.
Unlike Albuquerque which has lost people, Las Cruces continues to grow and has seen a 7.08% increase since the 2020 census. That means that the City can and should be able to grow its budget albeit at a reasonable and steady pace with consideration made for rising inflation as well.
Unfortunately, it looks like the City’s spending has overshot the mark dramatically:
- FY24: The city approved a $519 million budget, which at the time was the largest in city history, with a 9.4% increase to the general fund.
- FY25: The city adopted a $596 million budget that added 21 new positions and increased personnel spending by $10.2 million.
- The FY 26 budget was $612.2 million.
In other words, in just the span of three years Las Cruces spending rose by an eye-popping 18%. Budget growth should generally track with the combined rates of inflation and population growth. Our estimate is that those have combined for a rate closer to 7% or so over that three-year period, so some budget cuts are in order…