The Duke City’s nearly 300 parks will get up to $2 million for emergency turf repairs after the City Council voted 8-1 on Monday to use leftover money from last year’s budget.
The measure, R-25-183, sponsored by Councilor Dan Lewis, passed after two delays since August, while councilors and the administration debated whether dying turf was caused by budget cuts or day-to-day maintenance problems.
The funding focuses on parks where dead grass and weeds have left fields unsafe or unusable. Albuquerque ranks 24th nationally among the 100 largest U.S. cities for its park system, with 91% of residents living within a ten-minute walk of a park, according to the 2025 ParkScore Index.
The money will pay for turf restoration across Albuquerque, split evenly among the city’s three Parks and Recreation maintenance yards. The funds will be released once the fiscal year 2025 audit is completed, which city staff expect to be finished by mid-December.
Lewis said the parks “ongoing decline is unacceptable” and criticized the administration for failing to “protect Albuquerque’s green spaces, protect taxpayers and protect our neighborhoods.” The resolution addresses parks overrun with weeds, including silverleaf nightshade, spurge and puncture vines, with large areas of dead grass.
Without immediate action, Lewis warned parks could require complete turf replacement, costing more and taking fields offline for at least a year.
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn was the lone dissenting vote.
The Keller administration opposed the plan. Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said it puts “parks grass over people” by using fund balance that the council had previously said would support employee cost-of-living raises. During this year’s budget hearings, councilors said any available balance would go toward a half-percent increase for city workers.
Sengel said the move also shrinks the fund balance that could help shape the FY27 budget. “I prioritize people over parks in our current budget,” she said, adding that most recent budget growth has gone to salary increases for employees, “our greatest asset.”
Lewis called that argument a “cheap shot.” He said the money comes from a budget year that closed six months ago and will not affect future salary decisions. He also noted the Parks Department reverted more than $2 million in unspent FY25 funds.
Parks Director Dave Simon pushed back on Lewis’s earlier budget claims. He said the FY26 Parks budget increased by $1.7 million over FY25, contradicting Lewis’s statement that the administration requested “$1 million less.” The FY26 Parks and Recreation budget totals $57.1 million.
The resolution directs the administration to submit a detailed implementation plan and provide monthly progress reports to the City Council.