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PUBLIC SAFETY
How do raises compare for city staff and what happens next for the union, city and RRPD?
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RIO RANCHO — The Rio Rancho Police Department is widely appreciated in the city and it has maintained a good reputation with its community for years.
However, the department was called into question recently for how its officers are retained by the very officers that work there.
The union, city and Rio Rancho Police Department all shared their opinions on the matter.
In the first two parts of this series, the pay and benefits of other entities as well as the staffing levels at RRPD were explored, but how does it compare within its own city? And what does the future hold for RRPD and the union?
Raises for the city
The RRPD, according to Deputy City Manager Peter Wells, received either a 4% or 5% raise each year from fiscal years 2020 to 2026 except in 2021, when they got no raise due to COVID. Wells said this was due to “financial uncertainty; no across the board compensation adjustments given to any employee group via annual budget adoption.”
Wells served as acting city manager from 2020-21 but declined to accept a pay increase when he was appointed, according to Observer archives. Governing body members unanimously approved a pay increase for Wells to $150,000 from about $118,000 — a 27% increase — in April 2021. “It was not requested, but it is appreciated,” Wells said after the vote, according to a previous article.
Last year, the Rio Rancho Governing Body voted for a 15% raise for municipal court judges and 14% for alternates, according to Observer archives. The judges hadn’t received a raise since 2006 and hadn’t come close to neighboring cities.
The ordinance also established new parameters for paying future council members and mayors. By state law, elected officials are locked into the rate established for that current term, according to the city/RRPD’s response to inquiries.
However, in August 2024, the governing body approved a raise for the future council and mayor beginning this year. While technically they have not given themselves a raise during their term, the incumbents in districts 2, 3 and 5 have all sought office this year. The raise, according to archives, would put those seats at $39,106 a year from $18,685. Districts 1, 4 and 6, which aren’t up for re-election until 2028, would receive a raise to $39,106 after the election from $22,114. The mayoral seat, which will have a new elected official, will get a raise to $97,765 after the election in March. The mayor's salary for Fiscal Year 2025 was just under $68,755, according to city documentation, an increase of 42%.
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When the raises were proposed in August 2024, it was noted it was the first time since 2016 that the parameters for establishing salaries for those positions had been reviewed and amended, according to Observer archives.
The city/RRPD states this is not similar to the union members raise because those members have received annual raises and benefits compensation.
According to budget documents released to the Observer, there was indeed no raise for any employee groups in the 2021 fiscal year. In 2022, it was two 2% raises in July and January. In 2023 and 2026, it was 4%. In 2024 and 2025, it was 5%. These raises were attributed to a regular cost of living adjustment and result from a study completed in 2016.
The general fund, which goes toward personnel, also gives an idea of how much money is going toward paying the city’s employees. In 2021, revenue was $60,217,650 and personnel accounted for $46,181,333. In 2022, revenues were $70,848,593 and personnel accounted for $50,482,790. In 2023, revenues were $84,977,356 with $54,751,793 of that accounting for personnel. 2024’s revenue amounted to $95,934,095 and $61,577,352 of that was for personnel. Lastly, in 2025, Rio Rancho had $106,966,942 in revenues, and $66,991,926 went to personnel.
As of the latest budget for the city, five police positions that were requested were approved. The budget included three officers, a lieutenant, a communications assistant and a crime scene technician. There were also several equipment, training and other police needs in the budget.
According to salary archives on govsalaries.com for New Mexico and the fiscal year salaries on the city of Rio Rancho website, incomes for the city manager and deputy city manager positions, which are salary exempt positions, have increased by about 4-6% annually for the past five years except for 2022, when their salary increased by about 30-40%. Both started at about $60 an hour in 2021 and are now averaging near $100 an hour if broken down to a 40-hour work week. Wells stated the increases reflected a new hire or promotion within the city.
Future of union, retention and community impact
Though the union is airing concerns now, they go back to the table in April for bargaining and they hope they can work with the budget to get more for RRPD officers.
“I don't think that the city is retaliatory towards their police officers. I just don't think it's budgeted right,” union Treasurer Anthony Tortorici said.
He said the average budget for public safety is around 30% but that Rio Rancho is budgeted below that.
Union President Kevin Buchanan said every benefit has to come from some kind of fund.
“And we try to get creative with it. Like looking at contracts, one that I saw was, we have female officers and one was pregnant at the time, and looking at a lot of other contracts, I noticed that one of the benefits that they would get for officers was if a female officer’s spouse was also an officer, they would get paid for maternity/paternity leave,” he said.
He alleged the response he got for asking for this benefit was that the city didn’t believe members voted on that and that not all officers will be in that predicament. The union argued that it was voted on because RRPD is a “young department,” meaning many of them may want kids in the future.
But he also said that the request got turned down because the state was planning to implement that benefit.
They did reach a compromise for general leave that allows officers to give their own leave to someone who needs it. But they said it was at the cost of the officer giving up the leave and it was at the discretion of the city.
Secretary David Munoz said the union also had discussions with some of the city council members. As of February, Tortorici stated they met with Bob Tyler, Karissa Culbreath and Paul Wymer, all three of whom are up seeking office in March. None of the councilors responded to requests for comment on their talks with the union.
A bigger concern from all three union representatives is how the community is being informed about the department and crime.
“From my time on the road, from the things that I’ve had to deal with, that I’ve done and the criminals we’ve all dealt with … there is no way that our city knows what’s happening,” Tortorici said.
He added that people often think that Albuquerque is the area that needs attention, not Rio Rancho, but his personal experiences in the field have indicated a different story for officers.
“Rio Rancho, I love it. But criminal activity is one of the best-kept secrets to our residents,” he said.
Buchanan couldn’t say how much the city residents know or don’t know but feels like the understanding of crime and police in the city isn’t present. He added that RRPD has to “counteract being the next-door neighbor to one of the deadliest cities in the United States.”
In addition to that, the officers confirmed gang members reside in Rio Rancho and commute to Albuquerque for criminal activity.
Munoz and Buchanan stated lower numbers in staffing not only contribute to unaddressed crime but also a decrease in proactive policing in the city from the patrol units.
“When our staffing was good, our proactive policing was top-notch,” Buchanan said.
He added that policing has become more reactive than proactive with less manpower.
Munoz recalled that a few years ago shoplifting was less common because policing was more proactive. Now, they are seeing more shoplifting in Rio Rancho.
“I have the statistics that I took into negotiations. In 2022, we were at 36,293 calls that were self-initiated, so officers were being proactive. That’s ‘put me out with this person,' ‘put me on a traffic stop,’ ‘put me on a suspicious person,’" he said.
He stated the number dropped in 2023 and again in 2024.
In the city/RRPD’s response to an inquiry about proactive policing, they touted that the city was named the fifth-safest city in New Mexico in SafeWise’s annual safety report published Jan. 29.
“This recognition reflects the department’s continued commitment to proactive policing initiatives,” it states.
The response specifically recognized the Crisis Intervention Team, which responded to 2,024 calls for service involving mental and behavioral health needs in 2025, according to the city/RRPD. It states the unit provided welfare checks, coordinated placement and other community resources.
“This unit significantly contributed to the decrease in crime in Rio Rancho,” the response states.
It also recognized the RRPD Quality of Life unit, which it says responded to 3,105 calls in 2025.The unit specifically handles citizen concerns.
According to the response, Chief Stewart Steele has authorized operational plans as well as community events to address incidents and prevent escalation in crime. It adds the department has secured grants to fund proactive policing initiatives.
“We believe these allegations are unfounded and reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of what proactive policing entails,” it states.
The union leaders said morale is low for RRPD due to low staffing as reported last week, but the city/RRPD in its response stated that the department remains committed to staff and their families. It states morale is impacted by many factors but that the city has benefits to improve morale, including a wellness program, a first-time homebuyer program and a peer support program.
The city/RRPD added that it celebrates its officers publicly, referring to examples on its social media page. It attributes an increase in morale to the dispatch center in Sandoval County becoming fully online in October, adding that call volume has dropped since the city stopped handling calls for the county.
“To address your question regarding employee morale, our department has actually experienced an increase in morale,” the email states.
