Commission approves $100,000 increase to insurance budget after invoice from New Mexico Counties

County Manager Mike Gallant told the Eddy County Board of Commissioners that New Mexico Counties issued an invoice for the county’s multilines insurance about $120,000 higher than the amount included in the current budget, and asked the board to authorize a line‑item increase so the invoice could be paid.

Gallant said the county’s liability and property insurance are procured through New Mexico Counties and that during the budget development the exact invoice amount was not yet available. “Their invoice came in about $120,000 higher than the amount we have budgeted for this fiscal year,” Gallant said. He told commissioners the line item was budgeted at about $2,200,000 and would need to be raised to about $2.3 million to cover the invoice.

The request was presented as a single budget adjustment to increase the existing insurance line before the county issued payment. Commissioners asked no substantive follow‑up questions and moved to approve the adjustment. The motion passed on a unanimous recorded vote.

Because the invoice arrived after the budget was prepared, Gallant characterized the adjustment as “customary and fairly standard” and said other New Mexico counties had seen similar increases. No additional policy changes or programmatic impacts were discussed during the item.

The commission’s action authorizes staff to pay the invoice and increase the fiscal year 2024–25 insurance line to match the billed amount. Gallant said the action is intended only to make the county whole for the 2024–25 invoice and did not propose further budgetary changes at this time.

Looking ahead, the county did not place any new restrictions on coverage or change carriers during the discussion; the adjustment was presented as a funding housekeeping item to align budgeted amounts with the invoice received from New Mexico Counties.