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Votes at a glance: Council tentatively approves most departmental budgets; non-departmental and clerk items notable
Summary
At its April 22, 2025 hearing the Los Alamos County Council tentatively approved multiple departmental budgets for fiscal 2026. The council approved most department budgets unanimously; the county clerk and non-departmental budget motions recorded 6-1 votes on separate items.
Los Alamos County Council took tentative votes on budgets for multiple departments during its April 22, 2025 special meeting. The council's recorded tentative approvals are summarized below. These are tentative approvals pending final adoption later in the budget process.
Votes at a glance (formal motions and roll-call outcomes recorded in the meeting transcript):
- County Assessor (proposed budget $1,041,212): Motion by Councilor Neil Clinton; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- County Clerk (proposed budget $1,333,520): Motion by Councilor Reedy to approve the operating budget without the clerk's optional indexing appropriation; roll-call result: passed 6-1 (Councilor Hammond opposed). The clerk's indexing budget option was later placed in the parking lot for further consideration.
- County Sheriff (proposed budget $17,762): Motion by Councilor Herman; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- Municipal Court (proposed budget $909,443): Motion by Councilor Hand; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- Probate Court (proposed budget $8,496): Motion by Councilor Hann; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- Fire Department (proposed budget $56,472,166): Motion by Councilor Veil Clinton; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- Police Department (proposed budget $17,226,071): Motion by Councilor Riedy to tentatively approve the police budget and budget option items 8, 9 and 10; after discussion the budget options were placed in the parking lot for further review; the department operating budget was approved on a 7-0 roll-call vote.
- Public Works Department (proposed budget $69,297,959 with budget option 12): Motion by Councilor Haberman; roll-call result: passed 7-0.
- Non-departmental (proposed budget $10,363,787): Motion by Councilor Hammond; roll-call result: passed 6-1 (Councilor Reagor opposed). The non-departmental budget includes debt-service items and ARPA-funded allocations that the council discussed briefly.
Why this matters: these tentative approvals set the operating and capital spending framework for fiscal year 2026, but council flagged several items for follow-up. The county clerk's optional indexing appropriation was deferred; police speed-camera and traffic-unit options were placed in the parking lot for additional staff analysis; and the non-departmental budget contains multi-year debt-service commitments that some councilors said should be weighed carefully against future revenue scenarios.
What happens next: staff will return with budget revisions, vendor and cost detail for items placed in the parking lot, and any grant-matching or collections mechanisms needed to support proposed programs. Final budget adoption will occur through future council action after those follow-ups.
