This local election cycle, voters will be asked to consider where city funds should be allocated to a variety of issues and programs on Election Day, Tuesday Nov. 4. General obligation bonds are funding dedicated to improvements to infrastructure and programs such as public safety, parks and recreation, libraries and street maintenance.
In addition to the bond questions, there are elections for the City of Albuquerque Mayor’s Office, odd-numbered city council districts, Albuquerque Municipal School Board districts three, five, six and seven, the Central New Mexico Community College Board and the Albuquerque Metropolitan Arroyo Flood Control Authority.
General obligation bonds may be used to finance any capital improvement approved by the voters. These bonds are called “General Obligation” because the city’s general income from all sources is pledged to the payment of principal and interest on the bonds. However, the city typically repays its general obligation bonds solely using property tax revenue, according to the Department of Municipal Development.
The agency responsible for managing and administering general obligation bonds for the City of Albuquerque is the Capital Implementation Program, according to the City of Albuquerque. CIP Official Shawn Maden said GO bonds are sold by the city based on its ability to collect taxes.
“Just like other companies sell bonds in their company, we sell bonds like treasury bonds, and people invest in the city, and then we use those. Those are general obligation bonds,” Maden said.
General obligation bonds typically undergo a complex two-year process before making it on the ballot, Maden said. Even years are dedicated to planning, while odd years are when bonds are put more to legislation and put to votes.
“There’s a score that our (City of Albuquerque) Office of Equity and Inclusion uses, called the social vulnerability index. They set those as the bigger goals, and then they set a scoring criteria to actually evaluate them,” Maden said. “They’re setting the rules of what they want the departments to request with these bonds. It says, ‘we want you to achieve these goals for the community through these projects.’”
The process begins with the criteria resolution, wherein the city council and the mayor’s administration decides on the goals of the bond program. A scoring criteria is set based on the goals, then different departments may issue requests that are scored against how much they bolster overall goals.
A panel called the Staff Review Committee then analyzes the goals and impacts of each proposal and the presentations of the departments. Then the CIP committee, which includes the chief administrative, financial and operations officers, a council member and other directors, review the requests again and propose amounts of funds to go to each project.
The proposal is then sent to the mayor, further revised, sent to the Environmental Planning Committee, then back to the mayor’s office again. The mayor then sends it back to the City Council, where it is revised and voted on like a regular resolution, passes the mayor’s desk again, and is lastly put on the ballot for voter approval.
“We take the capital funds that the city has and we use those to construct things like streets and community centers and pools and parks,” Maden said. “If there’s a leaky roof, or, the streets are broken, a street light has fallen, a park needs a playground, or some of the pipes have busted. That’s kind of the main focus of GO (bonds) is around rehabilitation of existing city facilities.”
The public safety bond would provide almost $13 million to improvements for police, fire and community safety departments. Notable distribution features include the $2.75 million that would go to improvements to Albuquerque Police Department facilities, and the additional $1 million would go to acquire new vehicles for the APD fleet. Albuquerque Community Safety services would also receive $200,000 to improve its fleet. $3.25 million are marked for replacing the apparatuses of Albuquerque Fire and Rescue vehicles.
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The senior, family, community center, homeless and community enhancement bond provides funding for renovation and construction of community centers, senior centers and homeless shelters. The bond provides over $27 million to several facilities.
The parks and recreation bond totals to around $34 million for parks, open spaces, trails and education spaces. It also incorporates athleisure facilities, including upgrades to the Sunport Pool and $750,000 for two pickleball courts.
The remaining bonds include over $20 million for energy and water conservation related projects, roughly $450,000 for libraries, nearly $9 million for storm sewer systems, around $2.5 million for metropolitan redevelopment, over $50 million dollars for streets, about $7 million for museums, $1.6 million for public transportation, over $10 million for affordable housing and $350 million for Albuquerque Public Schools.
Addison Fulton is the culture editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
