City’s Legislative Push Yields Strong Funding Boost to Albuquerque’s Crime Fighting Effort
February 20, 2020
During this year’s 30-day legislative session, state legislators and Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham stepped up to invest $63 million in Albuquerque projects ranging from violent crime to homelessness and major infrastructure like roads.
“This session, we went to bat for funds to help Albuquerque deal with its biggest challenges, especially crime,” Mayor Tim Keller said. “We appreciate legislators and Governor Lujan Grisham for stepping up with a big boost for our efforts in Albuquerque.”
The City made crime-fighting investments its number one priority for legislative requests this year. The legislature supported public safety efforts with more than $20 million in funding to modernize systems for investigating and building cases against criminals, testing DNA and ballistics evidence, managing records and evidence, and more.
The City also supported the bi-partisan crime package, with Mayor Keller stating, “While this package isn’t a panacea, there’s no doubt we need every tool we can get and it’s one more step towards getting serious about community policing and keeping violent repeat offenders behind bars.”
Additional funding coming to Albuquerque as a result of the Capital Outlay package and other bills this session includes:
- $13 million for critical road infrastructure;
- $4 million for affordable housing for the homeless;
- $4.5 million for Open Space acquisition; and
- $4.1 million for a multi-use sports facility.
Albuquerque is also receiving about $17.5 million in funding for other parks projects, community and cultural projects.
Legislators are typically keen to invest in projects when cities can show results, and last year’s funding for Albuquerque was invested in a wide range of community improvement efforts, including ADA improvements along 4th Street in Barelas, DNA testing equipment for APD, and a major expansion at Explora, to name a few. City Chief Operations Officer Lawrence Rael said, "We made sure we communicated to every legislator how we have deployed last year's capital dollars to improve critical infrastructure. They know that money invested in Albuquerque will not sit on the sidelines unspent."
Although the session closed without fully funding phase two of the Gateway Center project, phase one is funded and ready to break ground next year. City leaders will be back in Santa Fe next year to advocate for state funding as part of a multiyear effort to demonstrate to the legislature that homelessness is a statewide issue that needs statewide solutions.
“We appreciate our elected officials in Santa Fe for stepping up for Albuquerque again this year, and we’re ready to put this funding to work,” said Mayor Keller.