Christmas came early to Albuquerque and Mayor Tim Keller in the form of more than $100 million in funding from the state legislative session.
“We got more funding than we have ever gotten before,” Keller told KOB 4.
Keller said the city plans to divide the spending primarily on public safety, housing, homelessness, and cultural improvements.
An estimated $5.5 million is targeted for a new fire rescue training and response center at Coronado Park. “That property might have multiple phases associated with it,” Keller said. “So the good news is this is enough for tangibly doing something, but it’s probably not enough to do all the phases we’re looking at.”
Another $10 million is headed for the development of a medical respite facility, a sobering center, and a first responder drop-off area at the Gateway Center, per KOB 4.
“What that allows us to do is finish out all phase one and allows us to do the design for phase two,” Keller said. “Again, a big chunk of actual work can be done now, and I believe we’re only about $10 million short for the entire project.”
About $1.5 million will be spent on a youth homeless shelter, and about $2 million to redevelop the now-vacant Walmart on San Mateo and Central. Walmart first wants to take six months to try and sell the property, then the city can step in.
“We’re going to take the next six months, look at the funding that we have, work with the community, and come up with a proposal,” Keller said.
The city also received $10 million to tackle the arrest warrant backlog.
According to the Albuquerque Police Department, there are 60,000 outstanding warrants in the metro area, an area discussed by city officials and law enforcement as a way to curb crime. The city made an initial quest of $10 million from the state legislature to help pay the overtime APD said it needs to serve warrants while maintaining day-to-day policing. That request then climbed to $20 million with half for the metro area and the other half going toward operations around the state.