Budget woes fizzle firework shows

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Several cities in the metro area are being forced to scale back on fireworks shows this year because of budget concerns, and one city almost canceled its event entirely.

Albuquerque and Rio Rancho officials said it has been tricky trying to decide what to cut out of the programs and what to keep in.

City of Albuquerque spokesperson Dana Feldman said the city is hoping to cut the budget for its fireworks show by 20 percent. She said it will do that with the help of fewer major headline bands.

“In years past we had names like Linda Ronstadt,” Feldman said “This year we're having Honor Society.”

Honor Society is a group that toured with the Jonas Brothers. Feldman said it’s a great group for children and booking them saved the city a bundle.

In addition, the city opted to book more local bands, and there will not be any JumboTron screens this year

The city says that will help cut the $130,000 budget down to about $90,000. Feldman said everything else should stay the same.

Gates open at 3 p.m. Sunday at Balloon Fiesta Park.

Rio Rancho's event was moved from a city park to a high school football stadium. The main reason is to save money, of course.

“We're really spending about half of what we've spent in past years,” spokesman Jay Hart of the Rio Rancho Parks and Recreation Department said.

Hart said the city was forced to scale back its typical $60,000 production to $30,000.

Since, the city couldn't afford to pay for live bands for a dance, it opted to move the event to the Rio Rancho High School football stadium where the Corbin Hayes football tournament will run.

That will serve as the main form of entertainment before the fireworks go up.

Hart said the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra will also play that evening free of charge starting at 8 p.m. The fireworks will start around 9:30 p.m.

“We really feel we have a great display even though we had to cut back on the amount of money we're spending,” Hart said.

Belen initially planned on canceling its event.

“We had pretty much decided that we weren't going to have one,” Belen Interim City Manager Lucy Baca said. “We couldn't afford it.”

Baca said the city's budget was so bad it was forced to lay-off 23 people in April, so a fireworks show was out of the question.

That was until T.L.C. Plumbing donated $6,000, and more donations poured in from the community.

The good news is the fireworks will go up, but not everything will be the same this year.

“This year we're doing with one band,” Baca said. “We also gave up the parade. We couldn't do that much.”

The majority of the layoffs in Belen came from the Parks and Recreation Department, which downsized that department from 12 to one.

Baca said most of the staff for the event will be volunteers.

The Hub City Music Fest and 4th of July Fireworks show will be held in the Heart of Belen on Saturday from 6-11:00 p.m.

A National Anthem singing contest is scheduled to begin at 7:30 PM. Fireworks display will follow.

The village of Los Lunas said its show will be exactly the same, all $22,500 of it.