Jesse Jones, Author at City Desk ABQ

The Albuquerque City Council debates the city budget during the May 18 council meeting. (Jesse Jones)

After mayor warns of budget woes, Council OK’s city’s biggest budget ever

By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — The City Council passed the city’s largest-ever budget, $1.5 billion, Monday night overcoming earlier warnings from the mayor that future spending would have to be cut to meet slower economic projections. The spending plan, passing 7-2, with councilors Brook Bassan and Dan Lewis voting against it, […]

Restaurant workers continue to work the lunch hour at Frontier Restaurant near UNM Tuesday afternoon. Photo by Roberto E. Rosales for the Paper

Councilors will push $15 min. wage, increased tipped wage to meet affordability crisis

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Burqueños struggling to keep up with rising rent costs may soon see relief as a bloc of city councilors pushes to raise Albuquerque’s minimum wage amid an expanding affordability crisis. The ordinance would address Burque’s widening affordability gap, where average earnings per job are about 20% below the national […]

Renée Grout was reelected chair of the Committee of the Whole on Monday, a role that oversees the city's $1.5 billion budget and capital improvements program. Grout previously served as council vice president in 2023 and 2024.

Council says it found $11 million budget error by mayor. He says they don’t understand the budget.

By Jesse Jones — City Desk in The Paper. — Division has split Albuquerque City Hall as a clash is erupting between the City Council and Mayor Tim Keller’s administration over an $11.8 million discrepancy council staff uncovered in the city’s financial projections while reviewing the mayor’s proposed $1.4 billion fiscal year 2027 budget. It […]

Council Vice-President Dan Champine is introducing amendments to the city charter to make the City Attorney and City Clerk separate from the administration and the council. (Jesse Jones)

NM.news

In next battle between council and mayor, Councilor wants voters to remove key directors from mayor’s supervision

by Jesse Jones May 18, 2026May 18, 2026

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — An Albuquerque city councilor wants to keep the city’s top legal officer and chief record-keeper independent of the political winds that shift with each municipal election. Council Vice-President Dan Champine is sponsoring a pair of measures at Monday night’s City Council meeting that would let voters decide in the […]

In downtown Albuquerque, The Alvarado Apartments is among 148 properties with multiple violations the proposed ordinance would target. (Staff photo)

City Council considers stricter repair timelines for ‘Bad Actor’ landlords

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — City councilors and landlords all agree that a handful of “bad actors” are giving landlords citywide a bad image, but a proposal before the city council to increase fines and require faster repairs by the worst offenders faced challenges in it’s first hearing. The city received more than 2,111 […]

Pictured is the new Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) headquarters located at 1210 San Mateo Blvd. SE. The new 10,800-square-foot facility is located in the International District, and along with housing ACS staff and programs, will also serve as a space for community resources and gatherings Photo by Roberto E. Rosales/City Desk Abq.

ABQ moves to permanently fund new safety branches without a rate hike

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — Albuquerque voters may soon decide whether to modernize how the city’s Public Safety Tax is spent, all without seeing any increase in their actual tax rate. We all already pay the Public Safety Tax – 1/4 of 1%, or 25-cents on each $100 transaction – as a part of […]

The Bernalillo County Commissioners unanimously approved the FY27–FY28 Biennial Budget (Jesse Jones)

As City works to plug budget hole, County approves record $1B budget with surplus

by Jesse Jones May 11, 2026June 4, 2026

By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — Unlike councilors in the City of Albuquerque who are trying to plug a $30-ish million budget hole tied to slower economic activity, Bernalillo County will start the year on stable financial footing, having closed an $8.5 million budget shortfall. Correction: An earlier version of this article […]

The Albuquerque City Council during the April, 6 meeting in the Vincent E. Griego Chambers. Credit: Jesse Jones

City quietly dropped plans for highly touted “Gateway for seniors” at Juniper Flats

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — For Burqueños hoping for relief from the affordable housing crisis, the finish line just moved further away when a promised solution to turn a former hotel into long-term affordable apartments for seniors touted by the mayor during his election quietly fell through. During the April 6 City Council meeting, […]

Keller veto holds: Council leaves rules requiring better A/C for renters in limbo

By Jesse Jones, City Desk in The Paper. — On Monday, the Albuquerque City Council failed to override Mayor Tim Keller’s veto of changes to a controversial renters’ rights cooling ordinance, falling one vote short of the six votes required. Council President Klarissa Peña and Vice President Dan Champine, along with Councilors Brook Bassan, Renée […]

Crime scene investigators at the scene of a shooting near the intersection of Central Avenue and Gold in downtown Albuquerque. Roberto E/ Rosales/City Desk ABQ

Albuquerque’s new ‘Safety Zones’: A boost for business or a crackdown on poverty?

By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — A new Albuquerque ordinance hands the mayor power to surge police and city services along commercial corridors, a move supporters call a boost for local business and critics blast as a crackdown on the city’s most vulnerable. On Monday, the Albuquerque City Council voted 6-3 to approve the “Enhanced […]