Commissioners hear update on asset management plan and information on loan and counseling benefit plan

By Mary Alice Murphy

The Grant County Commission work session held on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, began with two presentations. The first was from Aaron Sussman of Bohannan Huston Inc. with an update on the county asset management plan.

"We've been working on the plan since last year," Sussman said. "It's an internal tool for Grant County to make as effective decisions as possible, especially to address roadway assets. The mission is to look at the assessment of the roads and future expenses to maintain and repair the roads. The idea is for you to figure out how to best put your resources to use. We want to make it as useful and functional to the county as possible. We want to contrast existing maintenance to what is possible."

He said the purpose of the plan was to determine what roads are the most critical, which serve the most important uses and the level of usage and types of activities that most impact the roads. He showed maps that he said are the backbone of decision-making. "This is an opportunity for you to say the desired conditions of roads in this tier are surface conditions of this level. The higher tier roads you want to be as high a quality as possible."

Sussman divided roads up by paved, gravel and dirt category and by priority type.

"I mention and caution that the numbers are lifecycle costs," Sussman said. "The annual maintenance is more modest, but long-term, roads will require major work. You can annualize the cost for every 10 years or every 30 years."

He said paved roads deteriorate at a predictable level in certain conditions and with certain surface types. For roads in good condition and to keep them in good condition would cost about $51,500 per mile annual cost. "You have 86.5 miles of paved roads in the county. That cost is for a contractor. You do most in house, which would cost you about $2.8 million to $3.3 million yearly for all the paved roads."

Road Superintendent Earl Moore said only the actual paving part is contracted. "We do the rest as a match in house."

Sussman noted that not all the roads in the county are in good or fair condition. "Half the paved roads in Grant County are chip-sealed over unsurfaced roads. They will also require reconstruction over time."

He noted that most of the unpaved roads, gravel and dirt, require routine blading and other maintenance. He said the county's 26.5 miles of gravel roads fall into the good, fair and basic categories. "The contracted cost to bring them up to good condition would be $400,000 to $1 million. Those in fair condition to be brought up to good condition would cost $300,000 to $750,000 to be brought up to good with in house services. Re-graveling and reconstruction inflate the annual costs."

The county has 575 miles of dirt roads, which would cost $6.2 million to maintain in fair condition and $2.8 million into basic condition.

"The challenge of your road budget is not unique to Grant County, which has a $1.7 million total annual road department budget," Sussman said. "This assessment management plan creates tools to adapt the plan to the real conditions in the county, including what are the resources needed to maintain the roads. It helps you with your financial resource planning."

Sussman had recommendations: Some tier 1 dirt roads could be converted to gravel or pavement and some tier 3 paved roads could revert to gravel.

"This plan is how to get Grant County roads in the best condition possible," Sussman said. "It identifies levels of surface and how to work up to the desired conditions. Or you could work back from your resources available."

"We are hoping to have the final plan in July," Community Development and Planning Director Michael "Mischa" Larisch said. "We want to get the toolkit for your approval."

Commissioner Brett Kasten asked about school bus routes. "The main ones I use for buses are listed as Tier 3 roads on the maps, meaning they are not high priority."

Sussman said that did not mean that the county could not go beyond the basic standards for specific roads.

Commissioner Harry Browne said he would find it helpful to have a comparison of the paved, gravel and dirt roads, as well as the tiers 1, 2 and 3, on the maps.

"The best way to determine which roads are which is to use county GPS information," Sussman said. "Grant County has that data."

The second presentation of the work session was from Susan D. Mayes, New Mexico Association of Counties communications director.

Mayes talked about a voluntary employee loan/credit counseling benefit program through NMAC in partnership with TrueConnect.

"It is endorsed by the NMAC Board as a voluntary service for member counties," Mayes said. "It is designed for employees with poor credit or no credit scores to secure small loans when an unexpected emergency arises. The loans offered are in $500 increments from $1,000 to $3,000. They have a 24.99 percent APR, which compares to payday loans at a top 175 percent interest."

She said a $1,000 loan paid off in one year actually accrues at 14 percent interest.

"This program is targeting those employees living paycheck to paycheck and need money when an emergency arises," Mayes said. "With payday loans, they keep borrowing more to pay off the loans and never get the original loan paid off."

She noted that payday loans are capped at 175 percent, but the Legislature is trying to get that down to 36 percent.

"This program is confidential between the employee and the lender," Mayes said. "Payroll takes the payments out of each check."

She said the best part of the program is the educational piece. "Before the employee enrolls, they have to have at least one counseling session. The payments are reported to credit exchanges, so they build up their credit, and it keeps money in the state. It is rolling out in Bernalillo County this week."

Because Grant County is in the southwest region, 1st New Mexico Bank in Deming is interested in financing these loans, she said. "We also have Hidalgo County and Sierra County interest if they can get financing locally."

Mayes noted that no collateral or credit checks are required. "The county has to sign a two-page agreement, with no procurement involved. If an employee leaves the county work force, the county can take the remainder of the loan out of the last paycheck up to limits, and the rest is between the employee and the lender."

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos noted that, at the most recent NMAC meeting, not everyone was in favor of the program, "but they voted it in, so counties would have the option. There were a lot of arguments on both sides."

Mayes said the breakdown of the vote was about two-thirds supporting the program, and one third not. "Now that we've been working on it, people who thought it was just a payday loan, are learning about the education portion that helps educate employees to stay away from predator loans. It's voluntary for people who need it."

Kasten noted that the 24.99 percent interest rate, although it seems high, is not high if it's used by people who might go for payday loans.

"When they pay it on in a year, they pay less than 14 percent and it helps them establish credit," Mayes said.

Browne said the biggest draw is the credit counseling being required and not an option.

Mayes said she has been asked to present the program to the National Association of Counties (NACo) in July. "I would warn you to beware of copycat programs."

Browne asked why procurement is not required.

"Because it is only for county employees," Mayes said. "The only thing you need to do is withdraw the payment. They can even use the money to pay off their payday loans."

Browne pursued the procurement question. "We will be helping a specific vendor make money. I'm not sure why there is no procurement process required."

Mayes said TrueConnect is affiliated with Sunrise Bank out of Minnesota, but as the program secures local banks, the program will be transferred to the local New Mexico banks.

Webb said because it is a voluntary program, it does not have to go out to bid, but "I will talk to Jacob Zamora about it."

Commission Chairman Billy Billings said he worried about benefitting a local bank over another bank.

"Bernalillo did go out for a request for proposal and awarded it to their choice of bank," Mayes said.

A subsequent article will address the agenda for the regular session and commission actions on it in the work session and regular session. The next article addresses GRMC and GNF updates heard by commissioners at the regular session.