Quality-of-life tax hike dies after Albuquerque City Council dust-up

Yahoo

08-05-2025

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May 6—A proposed tax increase to help fund quality-of-life projects in Albuquerque was torpedoed on Monday night after numerous amendments were made to the bill.
The initial measure, proposed by City Councilor Joaquín Baca, would have created a ballot measure asking voters if they wanted to raise gross receipts taxes by 0.375%, which would generate an estimated $80 million to $86 million for the city of Albuquerque.
"A truly thriving community requires an approach that goes beyond just addressing problems and must also actively invest in growth, culture and opportunity," Baca said when he introduced the bill.
The measure would've restricted the money as the Quality of Life Enhancement Fund, requiring the tax dollars to be used for the $40 million North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center and a Downtown performing arts center before they could be used for other quality-of-life projects. After 20 years, the tax would come to an end.
The two projects are in very different development phases. Construction has started on the North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center, but the project faces a $20 million funding gap. Voters will have a chance to amend the city charter to allow Albuquerque to spend more than $10 million of public money on a performing arts center.
"This bill asks the people of Albuquerque to invest in themselves," Baca said.
Opposition was immediate. Councilor Dan Lewis said the bill "picked winners and losers" and sparred with Council President Brook Bassan about procedural norms.
Councilor Klarissa Peña attempted to amend the bill to spread the money among all the districts but, when that failed, she proposed a second amendment to send the funds to another project. Baca said that he'd never seen such a drastic change in his time as an elected official and called the move "ridiculous."
"Might as well cross my name off as sponsor and put Peña," Baca said.
That measure failed, too, but not before Peña said she felt strongly that Baca's bill was flawed. Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn put in her two cents and said Baca's bill "favors one project over another project, one council district over another council district."
She then proposed her own amendment that would send the money to the city's general fund instead of initially going to specific projects.
"The idea that we would be allocating $80 million to $86 million to one council district over another is pretty shameful," Fiebelkorn said, adding that she'd be happy to send the money to the North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center, but this was the wrong way to do it.
That change narrowly passed on a 5-4 vote. Lewis, Bassan and Councilor Louie Sanchez joined Baca in opposing the amendment. Fiebelkorn then tried to pass another amendment restricting the money to affordable housing efforts, but that, too, failed.
The final vote, now on a bill that would raise taxes by 0.375% and send the money to the general fund and not toward specific quality-of-life projects, failed on a unanimous vote.
In an interview after the vote, Baca said he thought he had the votes to pass his measure going into the night. Still, he knew some of his colleagues on the dais opposed it.
"I figured they'd be against it, but I didn't think they'd go that far," Baca told the Journal, adding that he may consider bringing the proposal back.
Fiebelkorn told the Journal that her opposition stemmed from a concern that another tax on the public would be unnecessarily burdensome, given the current economic uncertainty. "We have quite a few taxes on our community right now," she said.
Fiebelkorn added that if a new tax were to be raised, it should be focused on uplifting all of Albuquerque and not just two council districts.
Five members of the public who stayed in the council chambers or online until about 9:30 p.m. were then given a chance to speak. They all voiced dismay that the measure had failed, calling on the City Council to find a way to fund key quality-of-life measures.
Albuquerque resident and health care professional Jordon McConnell said he was disappointed in the way the debate unfolded.
"I don't know why many of us stay here when our council doesn't want to give us the types of opportunities to succeed, to make our Downtown vibrant, to keep people here, create good jobs — all these things work in an ecosystem," McConnell said.
McConnell, who is also the communications chair of Strong Towns Albuquerque, a nonprofit that advocates for density and walkable cities, said that quality-of-life investments make the city a better place to live and more attractive to young professionals.
"I'm kind of flabbergasted. That's all I can really say," McConnell said.