County budgets for cremations, portable toilets, other odds, ends

The Bernalillo County Commission last week approved nearly $352 million in general fund spending for the fiscal year that begins July 1.

Almost two-thirds — 64% — will go to the county employee payroll. The rest is in operations, including over $40 million in contracts. So what is the county contracting out? There are $1 million-plus contracts with the courts that cover defendant assessments, supervision programs and other pretrial services. Other major expenditures include fuel and medical care for people in jail. The county also has dozens of agreements in lesser amounts that provide for office supplies/equipment, building maintenance, software licenses and legal services.

But the full list of contracts included in the commission’s meeting packet showcases the breadth and intricacies of county operations. For example, the county is allotting $11,000 for a contractor to clean the 10,000-gallon grease trap at the Metropolitan Detention Center.

Other budgeted expenditures in 2022 include:

■ $150,000 for elevator maintenance

■ $80,000 for indigent cremation services

■ $40,000 to local veterinary clinics for a spay/neuter assistance program

■ $190,000 for state and federal lobbyists

■ $9,000 in “empath training”

■ $10,000 for laundry soap at the jail

■ $6,000 for online dance and fitness programs for seniors

■ $20,000 for portable toilets for Parks and Recreation

■ $4,500 for Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office dog food

■ $60,000 for Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office public relations

■ $35,832 for the Treasurer’s Office lockbox at the bank

■ $10,985 for equestrian therapy for the Youth Services Center juvenile detention facility

■ $1,700 for a radioactive material license renewal

■ $60,000 for road salt SILVER DOLLARS: Bernalillo County’s forthcoming headquarters at 415 Silver SW is getting a little more expensive.

The County Commission last week approved another change order for the Bernalillo County @ Alvarado Square complex, adding a total of $778,213 to the project and raising the total HB Construction contract to $56.3 million. Including other expenses beyond the

contractor, the project total is now $68.1 million.

The change order will cover build-out of the shell space on the complex’s seventh floor, something originally “left unfinished as a cost savings during the programming phase,” according to county documents explaining the new expense.

Finishing the seventh-floor space will enable some county employees from a separate county Public Works campus to relocate to the new headquarters.

The headquarters project should be mostly complete by May, with employees starting to move into the building by June.