Budget cuts slated for Rio Rancho

Rio Rancho employs around seven hundred people and most of the city budget-- about 78 percent-- goes to pay their salaries and benefits The city is projecting a shortfall of about three million dollars in its 50 million dollar budget and it s hard to make spending cuts without hitting paychecks

City manager James Jimenez is talking with employees and furloughs are a hot topic
If we have to go that direction should we do something like the state does where we dictate the days or would they prefer having more options to choose if they have to take an unpaid day it would be their discretion

Rio Rancho is in the same boat as Albuquerque and every other municipality in the state the lion s share of its money comes from the gross receipts tax on goods and services and in the recession people have less money so they re spending less money-- that s why furloughs may be on the way

Jimenez You know our goal is to avoid any kind of layoffs Our goal is to try not to reduce services to the taxpaying public but at the end of the day we have to have a balanced budget so there are some hard decisions that we are going to have to make over the next month

In mid-January Rio Rancho s mayor and city manager will go to the city council with a new budget that will cut back spending halfway through the budget year -- that s when we ll know if it s furloughs-- and how many there will have to be