May 16—An early May meeting of the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research came in the nick of time, as its updated economic forecast provided additional wiggle room in the proposed fiscal year 2025 Albuquerque city budget.

The City Council has until May 31 to adopt the administration’s proposed budget, which it had the chance to amend at a Thursday Committee of the Whole meeting.

The city economist said BBER’s quarterly forecast wasn’t quite hopeful enough to use the word “optimistic,” but the new report gave budget staff more “confidence” in revenue projections. Employment in the city, especially in construction, she said, is expected to grow faster than expected.

For committee chair Klarissa Peña, it was a lucky break.

“I’m glad they had their meeting at the beginning of May,” Peña said. “It worked out for us in the city.”

The City Council slightly increased Mayor Tim Keller’s proposed $1.4 billion budget. General fund appropriations were increased by .6% to a total of $851 million, up from $845.9 million.

That means additional dollars are heading to the library’s IT budget. Advocates for the library system had asked for $400,000 to cover baseline IT needs, a request that originally went unfulfilled. But that sum was fully covered by an amendment at the Thursday meeting.

That also means fees at the BioPark and Albuquerque’s golf courses will remain the same. The amended budget adds $238,000 to cover increasing food costs at Albuquerque’s senior centers and $500,000 additional dollars for furry friend feed at Animal Welfare and the BioPark.

“Even though New Mexico continues to see historic lows in unemployment numbers, higher than anticipated inflation continues to persist, while potential interest rate cuts seem further away,” Peña wrote in a memo to the Mayor. “We therefore cannot ask our residents to pay for higher fees at our Senior Centers or Cultural landmarks.”

Keller proposed a largely flat budget for FY2025, with a 2.3% increase from the previous fiscal year. The increase came after a budget cut of $53.6 million in spending from the year before that.

Although public comments were not taken at the Thursday meeting, Albuquerque residents will have another chance to share their thoughts at the Monday, May 20, City Council meeting.