Rio Rancho Governing Body approves budget

While hours of work went into setting the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY 25) budget for Rio Rancho municipal government operations and services and the Capital Program (FY 25-29), both items quickly passed during a brief governing body meeting on May 23.

City Manager Matt Geisel provided the recommended 2025 Budget and the Capital Program to the mayor and city council in April.

“The recommended budget for FY 2025 is a balanced budget and furthers the goals outlined in the City's Strategic Plan. Staff projects a balanced five-year General Fund financial plan,” Geisel wrote in the recommendation. “This reflects the city's continued efforts to achieve a structurally sound and sustainable long-term budget. Recurring revenues are projected to exceed recurring expenditures in the next five years. As a result, the ending fund balance is projected to meet or exceed the city's 25% policy minimum for the next five fiscal years."

The recommended FY 25 budget and capital program were reviewed by the governing body at an April 25 budget hearing.

The governing body also took public comment on the budget and capital program during its regular meetings on May 9 and May 23.

“To ensure we maintain the ground we have gained in the current labor market through past adjustments and to keep up with competitors, I am proposing a cost-of-living adjustment of 5% for all employee groups (subject to collective bargaining),” Geisel wrote in the recommendation. “The estimated recurring cost for this adjustment in FY 2025 is $2,298,875 for the General Fund and $258,534 for the other funds.”

The $146.6 million budget prioritizes investments in public safety, upgrades to infrastructure and the retention of city employees.

Both the budget and the capital program passed by 5-0 votes with Mayor Gregg Hull and Deputy Mayor/District 2 Councilor Jeremy Lenentine excused from the May 23 meeting.

“I just wanted to say thank you for the hard work that the entire staff put in to get this budget to where it is,” District 5 Councilor Karissa Culbreath said. “It ends up being a very long process that almost culminates in this anti-climactic moment. But that really is a reflection of really diligent work continuing efforts to find the best avenues that we can to move the city forward and do what we need to do as a city while also maintaining appropriate reserves in place.”

Hull wrote a letter responding to the recommended budget for the 2025 fiscal year on April 23.

“This year’s recommended budget proposes to bolster and enhance all aspects of local government services to maintain Rio Rancho’s status as a nationally recognized best place to live,” Hull wrote. “In order to do this, significant financial resources are necessary. To accomplish what this recommended budget proposes with no associated citywide General Fund tax increase is both impressive and a product of strategic decision making by the Governing Body and staff over the course of the last 10 years. I look forward to working with you, staff, and my colleagues on the Governing Body in the coming weeks to finalize and adopt the budget for Fiscal Year 2025 and the associated long-range capital improvement plan.”