City Administration’s Budget Prioritizes Safety, Jobs & Families

Mayor Tim Keller’s administration proposed the Fiscal Year 2026 budget to City Council, outlining a plan to maintain key services while preparing for potential economic and federal funding challenges. The $1.5B budget continues investments in public safety, programs to address homelessness, small businesses and community development, and initiatives that benefit working families.

“Albuquerque is finally breaking through decades’ old barriers that have been holding our city back. We’re turning the corner–bringing down crime, sheltering and helping people experiencing homelessness, and revitalizing our communities,” said Mayor Tim Keller. “This budget ensures we keep gaining traction on the long-standing challenges facing our city and investing in programs that lift up our families.”

Preliminary revenue estimates indicate slowing revenue growth, and the City continues to take a fiscally responsible approach while maintaining core services. Rising inflation, economic disruptions, and possible federal funding cuts require a budget that maximizes flexibility to respond to community needs. With several phases of construction of the Gateway System for the unhoused being completed and coming online, opioid settlement and operating funds are required to open these services and help get residents off  our streets and into treatment and housing. 

“We’re moving forward responsibly during tough times, while continuing investments to provide the essentials,” said City of Albuquerque Chief Financial Officer Kevin Sourisseau. “With the real threat of federal grants being eliminated, and the subsequent impacts to Albuquerque families, we’re preparing for economic uncertainty and staying focused on vital services our families need most.”

To brace for potential federal cuts, the City is also reducing non-essential spending and evaluating sales of non-essential property, equipment, and vehicles. The City is utilizing other revenue streams, such as the opioid settlement funds and marijuana community reinvestment funds, to shore up services for the city’s most vulnerable populations.

Key Investments in This Year’s Budget Include

Advancing Public Safety 

Public safety is the top priority for the Keller Administration, and historic investments and innovative solutions have proven effective. This budget fully funds police, fire, and community safety response, optimizing recruiting projections, demand forecasts, and overtime. Crime is down in most major categories for 2024, arrest rates have increased, and the homicide solve rate remains above 90% for the third straight year. The Albuquerque Community Safety department is a national leader in alternative response for mental and behavioral health calls and has taken 100,000 calls for service and freed police officers to focus on violent crime. This budget includes the staffing and operating costs projected for Fire Station 23, located at the forthcoming Southwest Public Safety Center, which is slated to open in Q2 of the fiscal year. 

• $2.7 million to centralize critical safety technologies and improve officer training and reporting efficiencies. This investment ensures that APD remains at the forefront of officer safety, accountability, and operational effectiveness.
• $2.1 million to support the retention of officers with 19+ years of service and keep effective personnel in the force.
• $2.8 million to support the school-based violence intervention program and the taskforce on domestic violence.
• $10.2 million to support the Community Safety field response program that provides adequate response to the community to address non-violent mental and behavioral health emergencies with implementation of the bi-lateral split of the city into two area commands.
• $1.1 million for the staffing and operating costs projected for Fire Station 23 in the Southwest quadrant of the city will be equipped with one four-person Advanced Life Support truck and will offer improved service for the area’s growing population and needs. 
• $6.5 million for the collective bargaining agreement contract negotiated with IAFF.

Homelessness, Housing, and Behavioral Health 

By taking a comprehensive approach to address homelessness, behavioral health, and addiction treatment, the City of Albuquerque is now providing shelter and services to more than 1,000 men, women, and children nightly through the Gateway Network, with more programs and services coming online this year. Over the past few years, the City has taken critical steps to build out this network of support, and now is the time to activate the opioid settlement funds to expand services at the facilities we built. By using operating and opioid settlement dollars, this system can take hundreds more off our streets, into addiction and other treatment programs, and into housing. The proposed budget reinforces funding compassionate, effective solutions to homelessness and provides expanded behavioral health and addiction treatment resources to address the needs of our community’s most vulnerable residents.

• Leveraging opioid settlement funding to get hundreds more people off our streets and connected to the treatment, housing, and services they need to recover.
• $8 million for permanent supportive housing vouchers to support the City’s Housing First model. Full funding for service contracts for mental health, substance abuse, early intervention and prevention programs, domestic violence shelters and services, sexual assault services, health and social service center providers, and services to abused, neglected and abandoned youth. 
• $6.9 million for Gateway West, which has operated at close to full occupancy for much of the year.
• $500 thousand to continue the funding for Albuquerque Street Connect, a highly effective program that focuses on people experiencing homelessness who use the most emergency services and care, to establish ongoing relationships that result in permanent supportive housing.

Other Key Investments in Jobs, Sustainability, and Quality of Life 

The Fiscal Year 2026 budget proposal includes funding for a new multi-generational center,  small business development, job readiness training and career building resources, community redevelopment, and programs that benefit youth and working families. This budget fully funds the Head Start program, which families rely on for child development.

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Background

The City of Albuquerque has created a network of support for people struggling with homelessness and addiction.The Gateway Network includes:

• Gateway Center – Campus providing medical, behavioral, and social services including overnight beds, first responder intake, medical sobering and respite.
• Annual Impact: 20,200 Individuals
• Open Since 2022, more services coming in 2025
• Gateway West  – Safe, supportive 660-bed facility for individuals experiencing homelessness, offering specialized resources and case management.
• Annual Impact:5,700 Individuals
• Open 24/7 Since 2019
• Gateway Family – Supportive housing center for families with overnight beds, meals, and case management to help achieve stable housing.
• Annual Impact: 987 Individuals
• Open Since 2020
• Gateway Recovery – 50-resident micro-community offering low-barrier beds, recovery services, and support for 18 - 24 months.
•  Annual projected Impact: 50 - 100 
• Opening Early 2025
• Gateway Young Adult – Housing and support for young adults ages 15-25 experiencing homelessness, tailored to their unique needs.
• Annual projected Impact: 120 Individuals
• Opening Late 2025

The Gateway Center houses critical services and over half a dozen tenants:

• First Responder Receiving Area – 20 people/night
• Medical Sobering Center – 50 people/night
• Medical Respite Center – 50 people/night
• Women’s Navigation Center – 50 people/night plus additional 50 coming on line
• Men’s Navigation Center – 92 people/night with the beds coming on line
• Engagement Center – providing connection/access services to more than 1,000 people per year

Tenants:

• Turquoise Lodge Behavioral Hospital
• Haven Behavioral Hospital
• Ideal Option Substance Use Disorder Treatment
• AMG Hospital
• National Alliance on Mental Illness
• Vizionz-Sankofa Resource Center
• Albuquerque Community Safety – Trauma Recovery Center
• Albuquerque Community Safety – Violence Intervention & Prevention Program