Los Alamos Reporter

County Council Concludes Second Night Of Budget Hearings

BY MAIRE O’NEILL
maire@losalamosreporter.com

Los Alamos County Councilors held another four-hour session on the FY22 budget Tuesday evening. They finished reviewing the department budgets and went on to review budget option items that had been placed on a “parking lot” for further discussion. A few more items remain for discussion at the next hearing.

The following were approved:

Fire Department:  $36,552,149

Police Department : $10,428,992 – including two budget options. First option provides for $50,000 for a variety of improvements at the Animal Shelter. The second option would move the Victim Advocate position from .75 to 1.0 FTE due to proven need in the community at a cost of $13,979.

Public Works Department: $41,758,175 – including two budget options. The first option provides $33,000 for purchase of a Ford Explorer 4WD for shuttle/admin use. The second option is for $2.5 million for 33rd/34th Streets and Arkansas Avenue road projects to align with the Department of Public Utilities plan.

Department of Public Utilities: $83,091,266  – including two budget options both for the Canyon Road corridor with $200,000 to replace conduit and $254,000 to replace cast iron pipes in advance of Public Works construction project.

Non-Departmental Budget: $4,771,409. This amount includes $215,000 for the Emergency Declaration Fund and $4,556,409 for the County’s Debt Service Payment.

Council voted to add two budget options to the Administrative Services Department budget:

  • Add a broadband manager position to provide ongoing staff resource to pursue enhancements to community broadband – $161,664
  • Develop updated community broadband conceptual designs. Design work should provide multiple concepts – $500,000
  • Third party software support  – $28,200

Council voted to add two budget options to the Community Services Department budget:

  • A climbing wall and log rolling to the Leisure Lagoon at the Aquatic Center – $15,000
  • Develop an integrated master plan that looks at operations and explores opportunities to integrate operations and strategic objects into a prioritized set of actions, to develop a road map for Community Services Department operations for the next 7-10 years – $150,000

Budget hearings will reconvene at 6 p.m., Monday, April 26.