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Consultants hired to evaluate Albuquerque’s city government plan to recommend eliminating about 50 jobs, creating about a dozen others and downsizing the city fleet by 20 percent.
Animal-adoption fees ought to go up, the consultants say, and one company – not two – should be in charge of managing and marketing the Convention Center.
City Hall could even explore the sale of Convention Center naming rights.
The city of Albuquerque should try to reduce its fleet of trucks, like this one photographed Monday, sedans and other vehicles to save money, according to the Matrix Consulting Group. (Dean Hanson/Journal)
These are a few of the recommendations, big and small, outlined in a 590-page draft report released Monday. It’s from Matrix Consulting Group, a California-based company hired by Mayor Richard Berry to evaluate the city’s organizational structure.
Rob Perry, Albuquerque’s top executive under the mayor, said it will take months to analyze the report and determine which recommendations to pursue.
“No information, conclusions, or recommendations contained within the report are that of the city of Albuquerque” or the Berry administration, he said in a written statement. “… The report was conducted by impartial and independent outside experts.”
Altogether, Matrix estimates its recommendations would result in at least $4.7 million in annual savings or new revenue, though that figure would be offset somewhat by suggestions for increased spending in other areas. That’s just for the suggestions in which estimates are offered. In many cases, the consultants said they expected savings but didn’t offer a dollar figure.
Conversely, Matrix said the city should increase spending in some cases by hiring new people or buying new software or equipment. Those recommendations add up to about $699,000 in new ongoing costs, and about $1.1 million in one-time, temporary costs.
Some of the recommendations already face skepticism.
Dale Lockett, president and CEO of the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau, which markets the Convention Center, said the recommendation to consolidate management and marketing of the center into one contract “is not even anywhere close to being a best practice” in the industry, as asserted by Matrix.
“It’s absolutely incorrect,” he said.
The Albuquerque Convention Center is managed by SMG World.
Josh Anderson, political coordinator for AFSCME Council 18, whose membership includes city employees, questioned the wisdom of staffing cuts at City Hall, saying they could diminish services. He also said the union needs more time to evaluate the study.
“We just want to make sure we keep people working,” Anderson said. “We don’t need to send more and more people to the unemployment line.”
The Matrix report released Monday is just a draft, subject to change. A final version is expected later this month.
Matrix has a $200,000 contract with the city.
The recommendations, at this point, include:
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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