Keller signs city budget totaling nearly $1 billion

$1.8 million targeted to reduce backlog in crime lab testing

With members of the Albuquerque City Council in attendance, Mayor Tim Keller on Thursday signed a nearly $1 billion fiscal 2019 budget that includes funding for public safety, expanded opportunities for children and local economic development.

The council unanimously passed an operating budget of around $577 million in general fund appropriations during its May 21 meeting. The total budget, including enterprise

funds, is nearly $1 billion.

The final budget includes public safety priorities, including recruiting efforts to hire 100 new officers in the fiscal year, a step toward the city’s goal of hiring 400 officers over four years.

“In Albuquerque, we get our business done when it comes to the budget,” Keller said during a short signing ceremony Thursday morning.

“Together we hammered things out and passed a budget on time and a budget that is balanced.”

The budget also includes $1.8 million to address backlogs at the crime lab, including the more than

4,000 untested sexual assault evidence kits and the 16-month processing time for latent fingerprints, and $3.2 million to develop the Mobile Integrated Healthcare and Community Outreach Program, a targeted care program for indigent and distressed populations.

Funding of the Economic Development Department’s core programs, including supporting local businesses, aligning expenditures to keep tax dollars in the local economy instead of flowing out of state, and recruiting new businesses is also included, as well as about $1 million for new beforeschool, after-school and summer programming.