By Rodd Cayton
The City of Albuquerque’s next budget is headed for the home stretch and city employees could find their paychecks a little bigger.
The City Council’s Committee of the Whole voted Thursday to move the $1.5 billion financial blueprint to final adoption at Monday’s regular meeting. Councilors have been reviewing Mayor Tim Keller’s proposal since its April introduction and spent the evening debating possible amendments.
Councilor Klarissa Peña said she plans to reintroduce an amendment Monday that would approve a series of transfers to allow for $4,041,000 to go toward an additional 1% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for employees
The raises, which would apply to employees not associated with the firefighters’ union, would be on top of a 2% COLA in Keller’s proposed budget.
The committee voted down a similar amendment Peña proposed, with some councilors expressing support for her intention but wanting details of the transfers clarified.
Councilor Dan Lewis proposed an amendment that would reduce restaurant inspection permit fees by 10% (50% for mobile unit inspections) and cut daily admission fees for the aquatics program by 50 cents. Those moves would be balanced with $266,000 taken out of the Chief Administrative Office budget via the elimination of community outreach and public affairs positions.
City chief administrative officer Samantha Sengel said those positions are currently filled and passage of the amendment would result in layoffs of those employees.
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn noted that language in the amendment says the fee reductions are contingent upon a future amendment to the food and beverage ordinance.
“I think inserting things into the budget that have not passed this body might not be the best approach to budgeting for the City of Albuquerque,” Fiebelkorn said.
Lewis countered that it happens regularly and that the move would not commit the council to any particular course of action.
“All it does is just put the money in the bank,” he said. “In the fund balance that could be later allocated right back to where it was or somewhere else.”
Fiebelkorn said she finds the prospect of layoffs very upsetting. Lewis said he wanted to lower costs for restaurant operators struggling with inflation.
Sengel said the two employees are a supervisor who helps provide the public with transparency of information related to the police department and an individual whose work involves creating engagement strategies connecting residents and volunteers in all nine City Council districts.
Council President Brook Bassan suggested the panel can’t specify which positions should be eliminated, as that would violate separation of powers rules in the City Charter.
Lewis said the council can still choose the funding level for the administrative office, which would decide how to spend its appropriation.
The amendment fell on a 7-2 vote, supported only by Lewis and Councilor Dan Champine.
Another Lewis Amendment would lower green fees at city golf courses by $1 and reallocate $258,000 from subsidies for the Transit Department. He said unfilled positions within the department would permit the savings.
Transit Director Leslie Keener said her department is actively hiring, with 18 new motorcoach operators in training. She said transit now has fewer than 100 driver vacancies.
“It really will be imperative that we continue to have those positions available,” Keener said. “Especially as we progress and implement the network plan that we’re really gearing up towards.”
Councilor Nichole Rogers said she wants to see ABQ Ride bus service return to the routes it ran before the COVID-19 pandemic. She said it’s possible the council can add the finding during a mid-year budget “cleanup.”
Fiebelkorn said it’s important to keep the money available for driver hiring as long-awaited system improvements begin.
“If I have to choose between giving golfers $1 off and providing transit for some of our most impoverished neighborhoods, I’m going to always choose transit,” she said. “I don’t think a $1 reduction in golf fees is really going to make that much of a difference for golfers, but a reduction in any type of routes or transit would make a huge difference for people who live in that community.”
Lewis said the amendment doesn’t set the reductions in stone, but rather gives Keller’s administration flexibility to move money around later, which it has sought.
That amendment failed on a 6-3 vote, with Lewis, Champine and Councilor Renee Grout voting in favor.
Other notable amendments included:
$400,000 in transfers to support tourism projects, including the USA Cycling Masters Championships, Bands of Enchantment and the New Mexico Music Festival.
A $500,000 transfer from the lodger’s tax fund to the Arts & Culture community events program to add a nonrecurring line item for Route 66 Centennial planning and improvements.
The addition of $214,000 in opioid settlement money to the Good Shepherd Center, based on the homeless shelter’s ability to double its capacity to support individuals in recovery.
Several other amendments were necessary to correct technical or other errors in the draft budget.
The full agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting will be available here.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
WHEN: 5 p.m.May 19.
WHERE: Vincent E. Griego Chambers in the Albuquerque Government Center, 1 Civic Plaza NW VIRTUAL: GOV-TV or on the city’s YouTube channel