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Thursday, January 29, 2009
APS Chief Wants Cuts of 5% to 10%
By Andrea Schoellkopf
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Winston Brooks has ordered administrative budget cuts of 5 to 10 percent.
A memo issued earlier this month to APS department heads is the latest in the district's quest to permanently trim $20 million from its $656 million operational budget. The district already had cut $11.3 million by freezing administrative hiring and finding savings in school budgets, among other steps.
After using reserve money to cover a loss that was primarily due to reduced state revenues, the district is now trying to replenish the fund.
" ...Our goal at this point is to try to not impact the schools further," Brooks said in the Jan. 8 memo, obtained by the Journal this week.
Details of how the cuts will be made were not available because they are not due until Friday, APS spokesman Rigo Chavez said.
Departments with budgets of $1.5 million or more are asked to cut 10 percent, while those with less than $1.5 million are taking a 5 percent hit.
In the maintenance department, more work will be done in-house rather than using contractors for such things as auto repair, director John Dufay said. Also, the department will focus more on repairs than replacement.
"Sometimes that's tougher if the life cycle of a particular piece of equipment has seen better days," said Dufay, who had $290,000 cut from his $5.5 million operational budget. His department had been cut $1 million earlier this year.
For next year's budget, Brooks said, departments will be asked to look at work that is ineffective or no longer necessary.
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