Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
City Council adopts FY26 operating budget after hours of amendments
Summary
The Albuquerque City Council approved the committee substitute to R132, the city's FY26 operating budget, after considering more than a dozen floor amendments. Councilors and administration debated pay increases, program restorations and line-item cuts before the final vote.
The Albuquerque City Council approved the committee substitute to R132, the ordinance that sets operating appropriations for fiscal year 2026, after a series of floor amendments and hours of debate.
The vote followed discussion about city employee pay, targeted program funding and line-item reductions. Councilors introduced multiple floor amendments that reallocated funds to priorities including domestic violence and sexual assault services, economic development contract funding, and several community programs. Councilors also debated proposals to add or withhold cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) for city staff.
Councilor Isaac Grout, the mover of R132, led the measure through the meeting after the Committee of the Whole reported that it had passed as substituted and amended. Several amendments were adopted: the council adopted an amendment reserving $250,000 within the Health and Human Services allocation specifically for domestic violence and sexual assault (DV/SA) coalition funding; added $200,000 for the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance (AREA) contract; and approved other targeted adjustments. Other amendment attempts — including proposals for a full 1% citywide COLA — failed; the Council considered, but did not adopt, several competing COLA configurations. After the committee substitute and its adopted amendments were completed the motion to approve R132 carried.
Budget staff and administration responded repeatedly to council questions during the session. Budget officers explained that some reductions took the form of re-aligning temporary wages, adjusting early retirement estimates and re-prioritizing discretionary program lines. Director Varela and budget staff described the administration's position and cautioned that some proposed structural changes would require later administrative or legal steps.
Council debate touched on trade-offs between investing in staff compensation and maintaining operations for community services such as parks, open-space management and library programming. Several councilors urged further work at midyear should revenues allow additional restorations.
The council recorded the committee substitute as passed after voting on the package and the incorporated floor amendments. The Council President and city administration will now proceed with execution steps and implementation planning for the FY26 appropriations.
Ending: Councilors said they expect follow-up work during budget execution and at midyear to respond to revenue performance and implementation challenges.
