City prepares to fill 160 vacant jobs

Animal handlers, librarians and building inspectors are on the list of jobs the city of Albuquerque intends to seek applicants for this month.

The next wave of job openings will include zoning inspectors and 911 operators. Still more positions will be available in May or later.

	See the jobs

Altogether, the city is looking to fill about 160 vacant jobs through mid-summer. Some will be posted internally before they’re open to outside applicants.

“In the normal course of business, we don’t normally hold back and let go the floodgates,” budget officer Gerald Romero said in an interview. “It’s a bit unusual.”

The hiring plans are a result of the city’s stronger financial position, officials said. The city administration has held open about 200 vacant jobs to help ensure it can balance the budget, even though revenue hasn’t hit projections so far this year, officials say.

About 40 of those jobs are proposed for permanent deletion under Mayor Richard Berry’s budget proposal for the year that begins July 1. But city executives are confident they can afford the remaining 160 jobs because tax revenue has been stronger in recent months.

“We feel the revenue is going to be adequate to pay for these positions,” Romero said. “A month ago, we weren’t certain.”

Berry said the public will benefit from having more people providing services.

“I think you’ll see more staff on the streets,” he said.

The hiring spree is at odds with a recent trend in city government: doing more with less.

The number of city jobs authorized in the operating budget has fallen about 4 percent since Berry took office in late 2009. The budget he inherited from then-Mayor Martin Chávez authorized 6,073 employees, and Berry’s proposal for next year would have 5,841.

Cutting vacant jobs has been a key to balancing the budget in recent years as the economy struggled.

People interested in working for the city can visit cabq.gov/jobs to see what jobs are open.

The 160 openings won’t all be posted at once or in waves. They will go up as each department prepares to fill its vacant jobs
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal