$7.7M in cuts could come to Santa Fe budget

December 22, 2010

The latest numbers show the City of Santa Fe has not bounced back from the recession. According to the latest projections, city hall could be facing a $7.7 million budget shortfall next year. last year was rough - but the city had a little more fat to cut- and healthy reserves to fall back on but now those reserves are as low as they can get. After almost two years of cut backs, the city manager has a list of departments of services on his white board -- looking for any obvious places to cut. Some small options for now include reducing the number of lifeguards at pools or looking at trimming hours of operation at the library. But bigger items might have to take a hit- like police - fire or city employees. It also means the city could contribute less to employees' retirement funds and they could see a reduction in other benefits, like health insurance. "We have very generous benefits and we are looking at whether reducing benefits could help us close that gap, "said Santa Fe City Manager Robert Romero. "I think we are trying to do everything we can to not do furloughs and not touch peoples pay."