Now right here in Eyeland, Bernalillo County is facing a $10 MILLION revenue shortfall. In a memo (read it here) to county officials, County Manager Thaddeus Lucero blames the shortfall on four things - a $3 to $5 MILLION drop in property tax collections as a result of foreclosures and inability to pay, a $3 to $5 MILLION drop in Gross Receipts, a $1.3 MILLION decline in Zoning, Building and Public works fees (a drop of 60%), and a $260,000 decline in motor vehicle fees and gas tax collections.
To offset the projected revenue shortfalls the County Manager recommends the following 6 actions:
1. Immediately begin intense quarterly budget reviews.We don't know about you, but that doesn't look like $10 MILLION to us and a couple of those - like items 1 and 5 - should be standard operating procedure. Unless county officials are spending extravagant amounts on out-of-state travel or buying Hummers for the Sheriff's Office, they're gonna' need to find some more cash.
2. Cease the purchase of new vehicles until revenues are stabilized.
3. Cease all out-of-state travel that is not approved by the County Manager.
4. Implement a selective hiring freeze on all non-public safety positions.
5. Monitor all grants and contracts to ensure payment prior to contract expiration.
6. Immediately freeze the implementation of new programs.
If you'll remember we told you about the spending spree that the county has been on for the last four years - more than doubling county spending from $220 MILLION to $521 MILLION (read it here). And just last August the county not only voted to purchase a $42 MILLION palace for their royal... uh, selves, but sold the bonds in a lightning move to avoid those pesky voters.
Somethin' just aint right over at Bernalillo County. They've managed to dig themselves a gaping $10 MILLION hole and are trying to refill it using a hand shovel.
7 comments:
Why is the county commission worried about short falls and spending? JUST RAISE TAXES AND THEN OF COURSE ALL OF THEM WILL GET VOTED IN AGAIN. ROUND AND ROUND WE GO.
I've always wondered - why is it that AFD and APD brass (and APD sergeants) drive around in gigantic SUVs instead of vehicles that get reasonable mileage? I'm pretty sure fire chiefs don't need 400 square feet of chevy suburban to drive around with their single manila folder and no firefighting gear.
To the poster at 0830 on Oct. 16th, the SUV's were ordered by Mayor Chavez' office because at the time they were the only flex-fuel police vehicles available from Ford. The Mayor's policy is " Go Green At Any Cost" and so the SUV's were ordered. The new patrol cars are also flex-fuel vehicles and they also get terrible mileage. Less emissions from the flex-fuel vehicles also means more gas per gallon usage. The APD brass and Mayor's office will probably tell you different, but I was there when the discussion on orering the vehicles took place.
the flex-fuel is a joke for police car. if you look into the gas that is being used, not only is it more expensive, it doesnt work and it gets used twice as fast.
I guess they could really use that $365,000 that came off the tax rolls when the county purchased 500 Marquette. Oh well, too late now.
If the APD harassment of responsible drinkers was lifted, people would want to go out for dinner, or other venues without fear of paying large fines, or losing their livelihood. This would result in greater support of Albuquerque businesses again. The $10 million (plus) acquired from such an effort would be needed money supporting our hurting economy in short order! It would probably help to allow smokers to smoke inside of bars again too. This issue has made loitering outside of businesses a big problem. No one in government really cares for anyone’s safety or health. They only care for themselves, and themselves only!
BUDGET, THAT DID NOT STOP LUCERO, DANTIS AND 7 OTHER COUNTY FOLKS FROM GOING ON A TRIP TO WISCONSIN TO LOOK AT FIRE TRUCKS LAST MONTH.
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