There are more questions than answers about how Albuquerque's mayor plans to deal with an expected 40 million dollar budget shortfall. Will city employees lose their jobs? Will there be pay cuts? KOB Eyewitness News 4 spoke with Mayor Richard Berry Saturday to hear his plan. "If we don't do proactive things from a budgeting standpoint at city hall we're looking at a $40 million shortfall for the fiscal year that starts this July 1st," said Berry. The mayor is quick to talk about what he doesn't want to do for the upcoming fiscal year. "We don't want to raise taxes, we don't want to send people home," he said. He hopes to avoid options like ordering furlough days and cutting public services. "Our boss is the community and the taxpayers and we want to make sure the services to the community are kept intact," Berry added. Without raising taxes, making lay offs or cutting services how does Berry intend to manage a 40 million dollar shortage? The answer isn't easy and he isn't talking specifics. The only thing he does mention is possibly eliminating 80 to 100 vacant job slots. "It's obvious that we need to continue to shrink the size of government in Albuquerque to match the recurring revenues that we have in, but it's a much better position than we were in last year at this time," said Berry. Last year the city eliminated over a hundred vacant positions and cut most employee salaries by over 2 percent. As it stands, Berry isn't talking about whether further cuts to paychecks are coming.
