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Corrales previews mostly flat FY27 budget, seeks planning fund and discusses wildfire contingency
Summary
At an April 21 work session the Corrales Village council reviewed a conservative preliminary FY27 budget that keeps revenues largely flat, factors in a 2.8% cost‑of‑living increase and higher health‑care costs, and opened discussion of a new special fund to seed planning projects and an emergency reserve for wildfire suppression.
The Corrales Village council on April 21 heard department presentations on a preliminary fiscal 2026–27 budget that staff described as intentionally conservative on revenue and largely flat overall.
“we went kind of conservative on our revenue estimates,” Melanie said as she opened the session, noting the draft keeps revenue projections muted amid uncertain market conditions while building in a 2.8% cost‑of‑living adjustment for employees effective July 1 and an approximately 10% rise in employee health care costs. The budget also assumes planned PAR pension/benefit moves for police and fire that will phase in over the coming year.
Why it matters: the council must balance service levels and equipment needs against revenue uncertainty. Administrators proposed a new special fund seeded with one‑time or sweep revenue to pay for planning and design work that would otherwise delay projects, and discussed the idea of a separate contingency reserve to cover major emergency costs.
Finance director Juliana and administration staff walked councilors through revenue line items and corrections, including a $100,000 placeholder for a previously un‑coded “sweep,” a corrected court‑fines year‑to‑date figure (about $68,739), and lodging‑tax receipts that have trended lower than prior budget estimates. Councilors repeatedly requested a clearer budget narrative to accompany the numbers.
The session included department‑level requests: parks and recreation identified capital needs for pool HVAC replacement (estimates discussed in the $38,000–$50,000 range) and court resurfacing; public works outlined road‑repair matching needs (a placeholder $550,000 match was discussed) and a potential purchase of a striping machine versus contracting striping work; police and fire reported equipment needs and staffing shortfalls.
Fire chief emphasized wildland risk in the Bossi Preserve and the potential financial exposure if a large wildfire required full suppression within village boundaries. “We would be obligated to full suppression costs of the Bossi if it was to catch fire,” the chief said, urging council consideration of an emergency contingency fund rather than relying solely on post‑disaster state or federal requests.
Administration suggested seeding a planning fund with an initial sum (administration recommended $50,000 as a starting placeholder) and asked whether council wanted a parallel contingency reserve. The council did not make a final allocation; staff said final transfers and carryovers will be resolved after year‑end close and at the statutory preliminary/final budget hearings in May/June.
What’s next: staff plan to present a preliminary budget at the May 12 council meeting, allow additional input at the May 26 meeting, and return a final FY27 budget for adoption under the timeline required for municipal budgets. The administration also committed to providing clearer budget narratives and follow‑up cost estimates for wish‑list items.
The work session produced no formal votes; it was a review and direction session that generated follow‑up items for staff, including clearer narratives, cost estimates for capital requests, and a draft plan for how the council might seed and govern any new special planning or contingency funds.
