Councilors: Mayor's Plan Falls Short

ALBUQUERQUE - Mayor R.J. Berry says his plan to cut $19 million from the city spending should be enough to plug the city's projected budget shortfall.

The Berry administration delivered the plan to city councilors Friday. But some councilors say the Mayor's plan doesn't go far enough.

Councilors raised the red flag when the exiting Martin Chavez administration said the budget shortfall was only going to be between $10 million and $13 million.

Now they're raising that flag again, saying the plan to fill $19 million may not be enough and they're running out of time.

The Berry budget fix depends on the economy turning around. Councilors have been told the city shortfall could reach $30 million. Right now revenues from the gross receipts tax are flat. In fact, the city is still seeing a decrease of eight percent.

Berry's plan to save $19 million will cut two percent from every city department and chop away at the emergency services budget. The biggest factor is leaving most of the 294 currently vacant positions unfilled, saving $7 million in salaries.

Councilors say the city needs even more cuts to survive.  Council President Ken Sanchez questioned administration officials Friday about possible furloughs. 

City budget officer Mark Sandoval said, " It may be that we could not solve it all in this year
and may end up slopping over to next year. But it's not to the point that we couldn't recover from that."

Council President Sanchez responded, "I don't see anything that mention's furloughs."
Sanchez said waiting until next year is not an option. The city is already projecting a budget shortfall of $54 million in 2011.

The Berry administration says its propsed plan has some flexibility, in the case more budget cuts are necessary.