Voters to decide on $180M in GO Bonds for infrastructure, housing and public safety projects

The City Council unanimously approved sending Albuquerque voters $180 million in general obligation bond projects in the November local election.

Voters will decide whether the city can receive the money two years after overwhelmingly approving $200 million in projects in the last cycle. The vote would not increase taxes and send millions of dollars to public safety, infrastructure and quality-of-life projects.

Upon approving the measure on April 7, councilors expressed gratitude to each other in what appeared to be a process with little drama.

“I really appreciated the collaborative nature of the last couple of weeks,” said Councilor Tammy Fieblekorn, noting that Councilor Dan Champine allowed excess money to leave his district. “He graciously offered that to District 7.”

According to documents presented alongside the proposal, the $180 million in bonds will be broken down into 11 ballot questions.

The Department of Municipal Development, which oversees infrastructure development, has the largest request: about $55.7 million for well over a dozen road and water projects.

The Albuquerque Police Department and Albuquerque Fire Rescue will receive about $11.2 million — including funding for fire station improvements and police units — while efforts to alleviate affordable housing issues and homelessness will receive about $17.5 million. Meanwhile, Parks and Recreation will receive about $25 million.

The measure was amended a few times before its passage.

Among the changes, Councilor Dan Lewis removed $500,000 for painting a bridge on Paseo del Norte, which he said the city found other money for, and relocated $400,000 to widening some roads on the West Side. The rest went to the International Mariachi Music Hall of Fame.

Councilor Nichole Rogers also took away $200,000 to renovate USS Bullhead Memorial Park and sent it to the Albuquerque Community Safety department to purchase four fleet vehicles. She said the move avoided a situation where they had trained staff but not enough vehicles to deploy them.

Both amendments, plus a third to clean up language in the resolution, passed unanimously.

The 2025 general obligation bonds are similar to the seven projects voters approved in 2023 for about $200 million. Those projects included $50 million for street and transportation projects, $35 million for Parks and Recreation, and $25 million for public safety, among others. All seven passed easily.

These bonds will accompany elections for five of the nine councilors and the mayor. While those elections remain uncertain, the bonds are likely to pass if history indicates the future outcomes.

Secretary of State voting records show that Albuquerque residents approved every general obligation bond measure since 2019, when the state switched to the regular local elections model. In fact, the failed gross receipts tax bond to build a multi-use stadium is one of the few spending measures residents rejected in recent years.