Where does unspent salary money go?
Funds are often shifted to other uses; councilors want budget to specify outlays
Year after year, the mayor of Albuquerque proposes — and the City Council approves — an operating budget with money for many more police officers than the city ever has on the payroll.
It’s a case of wishful thinking that spans administrations.
In fiscal year 2017, for example, then-Mayor Richard Berry included funding for 1,000 officers. Actual staffing that year was 870, according to budget documents.
For 2020, current Mayor Tim Keller proposed a budget with 1,053 officers. That year’s actual number: 1,004.
The unused salary money is often still spent, just on other things. A City Council analysis showed that the Albuquerque Police Department underspent on salaries by an average of $3.1million a year from 2015 to 2019 but routinely overspent on other operating and capital costs.
Using salary savings for other purposes also happens, albeit usually on a smaller scale, in other departments across city government, according to Councilor Pat Davis.
Now he and Councilor Isaac Benton say the council — and the public — should be better informed about exactly where the money goes.
The two have introduced an ordinance change that would require the city to budget more specifically. They want each department’s budget to list how much money is dedicated to salaries and how much is for other operating costs.
Now, the budget does not draw that distinction. In the Police
Department, for example, the current budget has a $46 million line for “investigative services,” which is essentially one big bucket that includes detective salaries but also crime scene investigating equipment, laboratory testing costs and more, Davis said.
Creating separate line items for personnel would ensure greater transparency when the city shifts money meant for manpower to other uses, Davis said. That’s largely because the mayor cannot change line items by more than $100,000 without council approval, thus triggering a more public process.
“If we determine we need 1,100 officers and we fund 1,100 officers (in the budget), the public expects us to do that,” Davis said. “If instead APD decided to take 50 officer positions and purchase equipment with it, the public and the City Council deserve to know that.”
The councilor said city administrators have long considered unspent salary money “a budget tool” that provides a cushion for unanticipated needs.
But he said sometimes it also goes toward predictable expenses not otherwise illuminated in the budget, which goes through at least three public hearings before adoption. Davis said his proposal could make city leaders more forthright and realistic when crafting and presenting the budget to the public.
Councilor Trudy Jones said she supports the change as an accountability measure, saying money the council approves each year for salaries is often moved elsewhere.
“It’s time to fix it,” she said.
Davis sees the change as a way to assist existing city workers who carry the workload when departments are not fully staffed.
As of March, roughly 14% of city jobs paid by the general fund — 665 positions — were vacant.
But the councilor also sees it as important to the public at large.
“(We should) make sure we’re hiring the people we need to provide the services that our community expects. Everybody who calls 911 and has to wait on a dispatcher or calls 311 and has to wait for someone to come clean up their park understands the people who do the work matter,” Davis said. “It’s not that we’re not budgeting for those folks; it’s that priorities change and we’re not explaining that to the public.”
A spokeswoman for Keller did not say whether the mayor supports or opposes the change.
“We are still reviewing the legislation and potential legal issues that it raises and are in contact with the bill’s sponsors,” spokeswoman Lorena Sanchez said in a written statement.