Albuquerque council pushes back on four Keller budget vetoes

Mayor Tim Keller vetoed four items in Albuquerque’s newly approved $1.5 billion budget, citing them as technical corrections that would raise legal concerns if left unaddressed. But not all of those vetoes survived Monday night’s City Council meeting.

The yearly budget allocates the city’s revenue to hundreds of programs and salaries, and, as Keller said in a memorandum declaring the vetoes, is among the most consequential policy decisions the city makes every year.

“It’s a reflection of our values, our priorities, and our vision of the future,” Keller said.

The move did not substantially alter the $1.5 billion budget approved by the council on May 19, but did lead to debate Monday night as the council mulled whether to override Keller’s four vetoes. Ultimately, they left two of Keller’s vetoes intact.

A spokesperson for the mayor’s office stated that these issues could have been resolved before the council approved the budget, but “we were not given the opportunity before the vote.”

The first item vetoed was the establishment of an independent Albuquerque office of permitting. The office would have coordinated the city’s internal permitting functions across its departments and was set to receive $450,000.

Keller said he supported the intention, but it would be “legally problematic” to create an independent permitting office.

The money will instead be reserved for the Planning Department. To support this, the council passed a resolution Monday that calls for the hiring of an ombudsman, exploring third-party plan reviews, and adding staff to improve processing times and communication with applicants.

The second veto removed $200,000 from the Albuquerque Regional Economic Alliance, a nonprofit that provides confidential assistance to firms considering Albuquerque for expansion and investment.

Keller said he supported AREA’s mission, but the budget and council would require the administration to cut sponsorship funding to other entities.

“This action pits our non-profit partners against each other and forces us to pick winners and losers,” Keller said in his veto document.

The council pushed back on this notion, saying the AREA funding should not detract from the support for other nonprofits. They also noted that AREA and the city have a contract together that relies on continued appropriations.

“I think it’s a little unfair that it’s made to seem that, either by overriding this veto or by sustaining this veto, the council is prioritizing one nonprofit over the other when the council wasn’t doing that,” said Councilor Brook Bassan.

The third veto would have removed $350,000 for the Cycling USAC Masters Championship, a race run by the national governing body for cycling.

Dave Simon, the director of the Parks and Recreation department, stated that the appropriation should not have been included, as Albuquerque is not currently slated to host the race.

The council chose to override this veto, which will allow them to reallocate the funding instead of it reverting to the general fund.

The final veto would have removed $580,000 from Bands of Enchantment, a music television show filmed in front of a live audience at the Historic KiMo Theatre that airs on KNME.

The mayor stated that the funding would violate the city’s Procurement Ordinance and the state’s anti-donation clause, which broadly prohibits the use of public funds for private investment with some exceptions.

The council again disagreed with the mayor’s reasoning and overrode his veto, allowing the funding to move forward.