Albuquerque’s push for more budget transparency collapsed Monday night as the City Council voted 1-8 against overriding Mayor Tim Keller’s veto of an ordinance that had passed 8-1 just three weeks earlier.
The failed override leaves the city’s $1.5 billion budget process largely unchanged. The administration will not have to share detailed vacancy data, drop “program savings” line items, or give Council staff direct access to financial systems.
Only Councilor Dan Champine, who was elected vice president earlier in the meeting, voted to override the veto after eight councilors had supported the ordinance on Dec. 15.
“The transparency and communication that is essential to this council understanding how the budget is built,” Champine said before the vote failed.
Keller’s veto memo flipped the vote from an 8-1 majority to a 1-8 failure after warning the changes “likely conflict with the City Charter” on separation of powers.
In the memo, Keller said he vetoed the ordinance to avoid sending it to a Conference Committee and “potentially setting up future legal separation of powers disputes in the courts.” He also said several adopted amendments “unfortunately undermined much of the staff’s work” that led to an earlier compromise.
New council President Klarissa Peña, the bill’s original sponsor, voted to sustain the veto, saying late amendments “reversed some of the long work that we had done over the course of a year.” She said the council should restart negotiations with the administration.
Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel said the final version became too “directive” of the executive branch. Both Peña and Sengel supported moving the issue to a Conference Committee, a six-member panel of councilors and administration officials that resolves Charter disputes between the branches.
The ordinance died after about 18 months of negotiations between Council staff and the Keller administration.
“I appreciate Council upholding the veto. I look forward to working collaboratively with Council to develop changes together,” said Keller.”
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