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 18, 2012.  City departments developed and extensively reviewed projects and programs to arrive at the 2013 – 2022 capital improvements program.  The projects proposals contained in this document encompass 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 2013 general obligation bond program, City departments submitted a little over $143 million in project requests.  The objectives of the project planning and selection process are to:

• evaluate, rate and rank those 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 program 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 capital implementation program, office of management & budget, the planning department and the environmental 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 2012, ranked projects were evaluated by senior city management (CIP Committee), which includes the Chief Administrative Officer, the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, the Chief Operations Officer, the Director of Aviation, the Director of Finance & Administrative Services, and the Director of Department of Municipal Development.  The Director of City Council Services and her staff also participated in this process. Funding recommendations were made to the Mayor by this committee.

Environmental Planning Commission Public Hearing

After the Mayor approved the CIP Review Committee recommendations, the G.O. Bond program was forwarded to the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) for a public hearing.

City Council Review and Plan Adoption

Consistent with the requirements of the CIP Ordinance, the Mayor is required to forward his recommended G.O. Bond Program and Decade Plan by January 2013.  By ordinance the Council must also conduct at least one public hearing.  As the governing body of the City of Albuquerque, the City Council has the responsibility to finalize the plan that will be placed on the ballot.

The City Council considered the 2013 capital program during meetings of the Committee of the Whole on February 7, 2013 and February 14, 2013 and they amended and adopted the program at a regular meeting on March 4, 2013.   Two public hearings were conducted, one during committee deliberation and one during final action.

Voter Approval

All general obligation bonds must be approved by the voters in the municipal election, scheduled for Tuesday OCTOBER 8, 2013.  Funding from approved bonds generally becomes available in about the first half of the following year, in this case the first half of 2014.