Santa Fe’s good government story
In attacking the city’s performance in his column (“Gonzales’ track record main hurdle facing soda tax proposal,” Ringside Seat, April 10), Milan Simonich misses the forest for the trees. A recent survey found 78 percent of Santa Feans believe Santa Fe is an “excellent” or “good” place to live, with high marks for great neighborhoods, retirement, beauty and as a place to raise a family. Even more, 89 percent said Santa Fe feels safe. We know these numbers because we asked for them as part of a first-ever effort to use data to align with taxpayer priorities.
We’re the first to acknowledge that city government isn’t perfect. But we are often our own biggest critic, consistently driving to fix problems as we find them and working hard to grow more streamlined, more efficient, more fiscally responsible every day. We feel compelled to respond on behalf of the entire Santa Fe employee family, because Simonich overlooks three years of reform and success in good government that have reshaped the city for the better. Let’s look at the facts: While weeds stretched our parks team to the limit last year, this year’s budget is responsive to that acknowledged need, expanding staff to get the job done right from now on.
Simonich implies that investing in tourism is problematic, but tourism — something we’ve built proudly and with a high level of success, seeing growth every year of this administration — supports thousands of jobs, hundreds of businesses and millions of dollars in local economic impact.
Simonich calls out potholes, and thanks to the annual cycle of freeze and thaw, potholes will always be a fact of life. But again, we’re taking proactive action, enacting the city’s first-ever comprehensive capital investment plan to reshape priorities and free up money for an on-call team to address potholes and street maintenance faster and with more flexibility than we’ve ever had.
He claims the parks bond shows that the city can’t be trusted. We think it shows the opposite. We discovered a problem we inherited and took transparent action to fix it: internal reviews that tracked every dollar spent in those programs; a top-tobottom rewrite of our financial and project management policies; the full payoff of the debt; and an audit last year that gave the city a clean bill of health on every problem uncovered in that process.
This isn’t the first time we’ve been accused of mismanaging funds. But the truth is we’ve presented and passed three years of budgets that have eliminated huge structural deficits, made changes that led to huge growth in return on investment taxpayers get on their dollars, saved $3 million in taxpayer money through smarter debt management and ended the inherited practice of using nonrecurring revenue to cover shortfalls in recurring expenses.
As for what taxpayers are getting for their money, while we are constantly working to improve, we’re also proud of what our 1,500 employees deliver:
A police force with a strong record for community policing that is effective at preventing and catching the perpetrators of crime.
A nationally recognized fire department that leads the country in wildland-urban interface firefighting and innovative community health care solutions like the Mobile Integrated Health Office.
Six recreation sites that feature community activities and opportunities for Santa Feans to stay active, healthy and fit.
Seventy-plus parks and open spaces, and more than 100 miles of trails that are still the jewel of the community.
Three beautiful libraries that offer so much more than books — from kids’ literacy to community services to a huge range of online resources to art and music showcases.
A children and community services team that offers the best and most affordable summer programs around and millions of dollars invested annually in local nonprofits for work in the community.
Senior center, transportation and Meals on Wheels services that connect our older citizens back to the community and make sure they have full access to participation.
An economic development office that invests $1 million a year back into the community in support for entrepreneurs, existing business and workforce development.
A transit system with some of the lowest costs and best coverage in the region, rolling out a new fleet of low-emission buses.
An environmental services division that services the entire city and is also rolling out a brand-new fleet of trucks, including a more efficient and effective recycling system.
A water department in better shape than any in the country, with conservation programs and performance that is off the charts, and which just completed a citywide installation of new water meters.
These are just a few of the most essential answers to Simonich’s question, and we’re proud of this and all the other work our employees do every day to make Santa Fe a stronger city.