By Elaine D. Briseño
Albuquerque Journal
RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho firefighters scored a victory Wednesday night when the City Council approved a 4 percent one-time pay award to compensate for raises they were promised in previous years but never received because of a tight budget.
On Wednesday, the City Council approved an approximately $56.9 million fiscal 2012 budget for the city, which includes the extra pay for firefighters. The budget also gives a 1 percent raise to all other employees and adds one firefighter and one police officer to the payroll to help staff the station being built in Vista Hills.
The budget was approved by a 4 to 1 vote, with Councilor Steve Shaw voting against it. Shaw was opposed to the 4 percent pay award. He said in an interview after the meeting that it was nothing personal against the firefighters. Shaw said he would have liked to see a more conservative budget.
“We are depleting our savings to do this,” he said. “I want us to be more sustainable.” City Manager James Jimenez had warned the council before the vote that if they decided to include a 4 percent one-time payment and the two new positions, the city would use all of its savings, also called unreserved cash.
The council had three different budget options from which to choose.
Option one did not include the 4 percent pay award, but did include the firefighter and police position. Option two included the positions, but not compensation for firefighters. Jimenez recommended one of the first two options, but the council went with the third option that added the positions and paid firefighters.
Councilor Michael Williams was pushing for a budget that included the firefighter payment. He said after the meeting that he was not swayed by Jimenez’s warning.
He said the savings are there for “What if?” and the current economic situation is the “What if?” He said he believes the city will remain in good financial standing and will still have the cash reserves required by law.
“The employees of this city have hung in there with us,” he said. “This is a gesture to compensate them in some way.”
José Martinez, president of the Rio Rancho Fire Fighters Association, said last week that the payment counts as back pay for a contract approved by the council in 2007. Firefight
ers had agreed to give up their raises in 2009 and 2010 when the city began to face a budget crunch. Martinez was not at the meeting and could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.
Councilors have held several public meetings about the budget. There was a public hearing on the budget before the council discussed it Wednesday, but nobody signed up to speak.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal