I have kept relatively silent on the Mayor's race. I figured anything I might say in the way of criticism would be construed as sour grapes, but I have decided to correct Mayor Chavez and his campaign untruths about his and my fiscal responsibility as Chief Executive of the City of Albuquerque.
Marty Chavez is a big spender. He spends every dime that comes in the door when revenues are good. He has consistently, through both of his terms. overspent the rate of inflation just because the money was there.
Please, look at this story on the spending practices of my administration which was written by Albuquerque Journal Reporter Jim Ludwick.
11/13/2001
City Budget Lags Behind Inflation
By Jim Ludwick, Journal Staff Writer
The city budget increased by more than 6 percent during the four-year term of Mayor Jim Baca, but that wasn't enough to keep up with inflation.
The general-fund budget, which pays for basic city operations, would be $14 million larger this year if it had grown at the rate of inflation throughout Baca's term.
Baca this month proposed budgetary changes that reveal the city's most recent projections of its income. Based on those figures, the general-fund budget could be about $322 million.
But the budget would be more than $336 million if it had grown at the rate of inflation during each year of Baca's tenure. That would reflect the Consumer Price Index and a starting point of about $303 million for the budget in fiscal 1998, when Baca took the reins.
Overall revenue has grown while Baca has been the mayor, but it has not kept pace with inflation.
The gross-receipts tax, however, has outpaced inflation during Baca's mayoral term. It's the major source of revenue for the general fund, and Baca repeatedly has said it is not growing rapidly enough to meet the city's needs.
Estimates for the gross-receipts tax recently were revised as the city prepares for the impact of an economic downturn. Under the newly lowered estimates, the gross-receipts tax would provide about $230 million for the general fund this year. That would be about $7 million ahead of inflation, based on Baca's starting point.
Other sources of revenue include property taxes, fees paid for permits, charges for services such as the entrance fees at the zoo and various other categories of city income. As a group, those sources of money have failed to keep pace with inflation. They make up roughly 30 percent of the revenue.
Inflation isn't the only challenge for budgeting. The population of Albuquerque has grown roughly 7 percent while Baca has been mayor, according to the latest estimates from the Census Bureau.
Baca, interviewed Monday, said the financial situation "is just not going to get any better" unless the Legislature develops a better method of funding city operations.
"I was not a tax-and-spend mayor. We've done a good job of fiscal management. ... When you don't have enough money to do what people expect, it becomes very difficult to run local government," Baca said.
Financial changes Baca proposed this month would cut nearly $6 million from general-fund programs. He suggested cuts in social-service contracts, shrinking the city's bus system, a four-month delay for a police cadet class and a host of other changes.
Mayor-elect Martin Chavez, who takes office Dec. 1, has suggested that Baca's cuts might be too modest. Chavez is reviewing city departments with the help of his transition team and is coming up with his own proposals for changes.
When I took office from Marty in 1997 I inherited a 22 million dollar shortfall in the budget. We worked hard to erase it and keep our bond ratings for the city intact. The cuts that we made were hard to do and we suffered through years of poor revenues. This issue became big when Marty ran for Governor against Gary Johnson and it probably helped defeat him. He has been bitter ever since because he blamed me for the bad publicity. We never set out to hurt his efforts in that campaign and in fact City Councilor Tim Cummins and I supported Marty in radio commercials.
Now, in 2005 Marty claims in his inaccurate TV commercials that I left him a 50 million dollar shortfall. That is false. There was a 12 million dollar shortfall and most of that would not have existed had the city council passed budget cuts recommended by me in the fall of 2001. They refused to do so. And Marty had to handle it, just like I handled his bigger shortfalls. Much of my budget shortfalls were caused by the fall of revenues and increased costs due to the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks. A good portion of it came from added police expenses. Things got somewhat worse because of continued recession after I left office in December, 2001.
Marty is currently spending freely. Double digit increases are the norm. Yes, the city council helps greatly, but the Mayor is primarily the mover of the budget. Most fighting you see is usually over about one tenth of one percent of the budget. Those fights get all the ink while the bigger issues of revenue stability are ignored.
I would also refer you to this article in the
Weekly Alibi by Jerry Ortiz Y Pino.Marty is always ready to take credit for good things whether he had anything to do with those things. (Witness putting his name on the baseball stadium and the museum expansion.) But the least he can do is tell the truth in his slick advertising. Otherwise we might construe he is ethically challenged.
"Bizarre". Mayoral candidates Eric Griego and Brad Winter held a joint news conference on City Plaza to question Mayor Chavez's integrity in connection with a fundraiser held by the bagman for our indicted State Treasurers. It was a campaign news conference and a legitimate one. But, apparently the Mayor and his minions decided to call out a goon squad and the Mayor's dog to disrupt the news conference. Many of those attending were city employees. How dumb is this? How
could there be such a failure in judgment in the Chavez campaign? This made his connection with the bag man a front page story. It made him look as if he had something to hide. And sending his dog? Mondo Bizzaro!
