By Rodd Cayton
Albuquerque is moving closer to having a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year.
City Councilors, Thursday night, sought answers from department heads as they search for the best use of $1.5 billion.
At Thursday’s Committee of the Whole meeting, they questioned staff on topics that included performance metrics, hiring efforts and future plans.
Richard McCurley, the city’s director of aviation, said recent developments at Albuquerque International Sunport include a new security checkpoint and food hall. He said staff have set a target date of late June to open the Indian Pueblo Kitchen location, at which point all of the food hall’s restaurants will be open.
At least three other establishments are on the horizon elsewhere in the airport, McCurley said.
In response to a question from Councilor Louie Sanchez, he said the Sunport will offer direct service to 32 destinations when flights to Washington Dulles International Airport resume later this month. That number is up from 24 in 2022, McCurley said.
The Aviation Department’s budget of $113.9 million includes $29.3 million for land acquisition.
The proposed budget for the Animal Welfare Department is down by $106,000 to just over $16.5 million, with the employee headcount remaining at 158.
Department Director Carolyn Ortega said animal intake at city shelters has gone down by 6.5%, and the euthanasia rate is down by 9% so far in this fiscal year. She said the number of pets reclaimed by their owners is up by 25%, while adoptions as a percentage of intake have increased by 6%.
Ortega attributed the improvements to factors that include collaboration with the police and fire departments. She said microchip scanners at substations have led to 31 of 35 pets brought in being returned to their homes.
The proposed budget for the transit department is $67.9 million, up about 3.8% from fiscal year 2025. The total includes a subsidy of $30.1 million, made necessary in part by the expiration of a state grant.
Transit Director Leslie Keener told councilors the city was unsuccessful in attempts to lobby the New Mexico Department of Transportation to keep the grant going after the federal government ended an air-quality grant program.
Keener said six employees were paid through that grant, and their positions will now be otherwise funded. She said transit maintains the only in-house print shop within the city government.
Committee Chair Renee Grout asked about the department’s recruitment and retention efforts.
Keener said her staff have focused on retention, with more efforts to provide support to new drivers, increased pay for those working split shifts and employee appreciation events.
She said nine drivers were hired in April, including some former employees who heard about the changes and wanted to come back.
“We’ve also gotten several of our MCOs (motorcoach operators) that are now referring their family members,” Keener said “So we’ve got a couple of MCOs that now have their sons working for us, which is really exciting. I think that’s a good indicator — you don’t really recommend coming to work somewhere to your family, if you don’t think that it’s a great place to work.”
Municipal Development Director Jennifer Turner told councilors her department was named Outstanding Public Owner by the Associated General Contractors of New Mexico. The award will be formally presented at the May 30 Best Buildings Awards ceremony.
The proposed budget for the Department of Municipal Development, responsible for designing, building and maintaining city roads and infrastructure, is $49.8 million.
Turner also pledged lots of coordination, information sharing and public engagement as the city undertakes a $62 million construction project widening and improving portions of Unser Boulevard and Paseo del Norte.
“You know, we don’t want any surprises, and we want to work closely with everyone,” she said.
In response to a question from Councilor Nichole Rogers, Turner said about 34% of city roads are rated excellent or good. That’s down from 49% for fiscal year 2023.
Turner said the current number doesn’t take into account street work city crews will be doing this summer and fall.
“That number, I’m hoping will go up,” she said. “I know for Albuquerque drivers who are frustrated with their roads, that probably doesn’t sound good enough, but I can tell you that we are constantly monitoring our roads. Our crews work very, very hard to maintain all 4,600 lane miles of them.”
The budget total is $102.5 million higher than what councilors approved for the 2025 fiscal year. City budget staff say the increase is the result of estimated additional tax and service revenue, and use of fund balance. Proposed appropriations include $17.4 million for wage increases across departments, $30.5 million to retire general obligation debt and $1 million for a new Westside fire station.
The next budget meeting is at 5 p.m. Thursday. The Finance and Government Operations Committee meets at 5 p.m. Monday. Those wishing to speak at a City Council or committee meeting must sign up in advance.
Final adoption of the budget is expected later this month.