Planning Process

Capital Implementation Program

The Capital Implementation Program division of the Department of Municipal Development administers the process by which capital improvement projects are planned, selected and proposed for adoption by the City Council. The capital plan covers a ten-year period, and is reviewed and updated biennially. Under the guidelines proposed by the Mayor and adopted by the City Council on January 20, 2010, City departments developed and extensively reviewed projects and programs to arrive at the 2011-2020 capital improvements program. The projects contained in this document describe the capital requirements for the City of Albuquerque to be funded with general obligation bonds. These projects represent the first two year cycle of the current Decade Plan.

Selection of Projects

For the 2011 general obligation bond program, City departments submitted a little over $146 million in project requests. The objectives of the project planning and selection process are to:

• Evaluate, rate and rank projects according to the criteria described in the foregoing section;
• Present ranked projects to senior city management;
• Ensure that the recommended amount of the general obligation bond program conforms to the available funding;
• Make the capital program available for public comment; and
• Place the general obligation bond program on the ballot for voter approval.

The capital improvement ordinance establishes the following steps to achieve these objectives:

Staff Review Committee

Selected staff members rated all projects based on Council adopted criteria. Individual ratings were averaged to determine the overall rank of the projects. Members of the committee included staff from the Office of Management and Budget, the Planning Department, Capital Implementation Program, and Environment Health Department. City departments made informal presentations to the staff review committee. Rated and ranked projects were forwarded to the CIP Review Committee.

CIP Review Committee

During the late summer of 2010, ranked projects were evaluated by senior city management, including the Chief Administrative Officer, the Director of Finance and Administrative Services, the Director of the Planning Department, and the Director of Aviation. The Director of City Council Services and members of her staff also participated in the decision making process. Funding recommendations were made to the Mayor by this committee.

Environmental Planning Commission Public Hearing

After the Mayor approves the CIP Review Committee recommendations, the CIP ordinance provides that the program must be forwarded to the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) and the EPC must hold a public hearing. The EPC is empowered to make recommendations to the Mayor. The Mayor, by ordinance, is empowered to decide whether or not to accept those recommendations. EPC met, held a public hearing and formulated findings on November 18th, 2010.

City Council Review and Plan Adoption

Following review and public hearing by EPC, the Mayor forwards his recommended program of capital improvements to the City Council. By ordinance, the Council must also conduct at least one public hearing. As the governing body of the City of Albuquerque, the City Council is charged with the responsibility to approve the final 2011 G.O. Bond Program that will be placed on the Ballot for voter approval in October 2011.

Voter Approval

All general obligation bonds must be approved by the voters in the regularly scheduled municipal election. For 2011, the election will be held on Tuesday October 4th, 2011. Funding from approved bonds generally becomes available in the first quarter of the following year, in this case 2012.