Over the years, Artesia’s budget process has gone through a very puzzling evolution. Prior to the current City Manager Bill Rawlings, the City’s budget was straight forward and easy to understand. In fact, it actually won awards for those traits! Shortly after Rawlings started, he hired a woman named Tracy Fuller to act as a consultant of sorts, and one of her duties was to assist with the City’s finances. Together, they created a budget that to this day makes both auditors and laymen scratch their heads. Fuller is no longer with the City, but Rawlings is still responsible for creating the budget. A Balanced Budget in 2020?   In June 2020, the City Council passed a budget along with a new contract with the employee union, which was a stark difference from what most other cities were doing. In the middle of the pandemic, most cities were preparing for a huge economic downturn and employee layoffs due to a massive decrease in revenue. Artesia was different. Yes, there was a project...