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Santa Fe County commissioners review FY27 department budgets, flag staffing and capital priorities
Summary
County leaders heard departmental presentations May 20 on proposed FY27 budgets, focusing on salary-driven increases, targeted cuts, capital requests and next steps on housing, code updates, water planning and public-works efficiencies.
Santa Fe County commissioners on May 20 held a special meeting to review proposed FY27 budgets from several departments, hearing details about salary and benefit increases, capital requests and department-specific reductions.
Chair Green opened the meeting and the board approved the agenda unanimously before staff and department directors presented budget details. The assessor reported a significant rise in personnel costs driven by market-based salary adjustments and described splitting some operating expenses between the general (101) fund and the reappraisal (203) fund to help balance requests. The assessor warned that a modern mass appraisal system could cost roughly $2,000,000 “give or take.”
The treasurer’s office said collections and several one-time savings (including reduced attorney fees and deferred investment-manager engagement) led to a net decrease in its requested budget. County finance staff explained that arrangements for an investment adviser were being structured so fees would be recorded as contra revenue and tracked in a separate GL account rather than as a conventional budgeted expenditure.
Community Development Director Butler said the department’s FY27 request reduces approximately $4.6 million (about 17.4%) from the prior budget, primarily by cutting contracts, demonstration projects, promotional spending and events while preserving core services. Butler told the board staff plan to present recommendations next month for an arts, culture and creative-economy council and said the department will hire an economic development specialist to support that work.
Growth Management Director Ladd described an upcoming set of technical corrections to the Sustainable Land Development Code and previewed a public-participation plan for a full Sustainable Growth Management Plan update. Ladd said the department is also improving online materials for short-term rental compliance and strengthening GIS and permitting workflows.
Public Works Director Brian outlined an operating budget near $43.8 million and said the recommended FY27 package reduces about $870,000 by aligning budget lines with historical spending, bringing some services in-house and timing large capital costs across years. Public Works also requested about $3.4 million in fixed assets for equipment replacement and efficiency improvements and discussed investments in online transaction tools, expanded Wi-Fi at collection centers, and an online domestic-well metering program.
Board members pressed staff for clarifying footnotes on multi-year draws (for example, an $8.4 million developer assistance tranche planned to draw down over three years), asked for a data-driven housing study and summit, requested bilingual (Spanish) outreach and portal translation, and urged staff to explore a pilot for alternative building materials for affordable housing. Managers committed to follow-up materials and to returning with an interim budget for formal approval if needed.
The board set a follow-up window for the interim budget and adjourned after approving a motion to close the meeting. The county manager said staff would prepare an executive summary mapping each commissioner request to how it was addressed in the budget or the workplan.
