The City Council cut the 2009 budgets for both the Balloon Museum and the Fire Academy last night. The Balloon Museum’s budget was trimmed by $200,000 and the Fire Academy was denied $1.3 million for proposed renovations.



As Barb Armijo reported for the Independent last week, both projects have exceeded their budgets by quite a bit over the years. Drawing on a report by journalist Eileen Welsome, Armijo noted that the museum started with a proposed budget of half a million dollars in 1995 and ballooned to $6.7 million over the next 12 years. Over the same time period the Balloon Park itself saw a three-fold to four-fold increase in its budget to roughly $60 million. The Fire Academy has gone from a two year project budgeted at $2.3 million to a four year project at $9.1 million–until the $1.3 million was cut last night.



Both projects were originally awarded to local architect Marc Schiff, who has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy and kickback charges in the Metro courthouse kickback scheme being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Schiff worked on the Balloon museum for many years, and Welsome describes an "unusually close" relationship between Schiff and Mayor Martin Chavez that gave Schiff unprecedented access to the Mayor’s office. Schiff was also awarded the Fire Academy contract at its inception but has since been removed from the project.



While Chavez wouldn’t provide an interview or comment for Armijo’s story for the Independent last week, according to the Albuquerque Journal he said in response to last night’s budget that the $1.3 million "was taken from public safety, and the Balloon Museum deserved full support." 



The budget, which passed on an 8-0 vote, also cut $700,000 from a west-side animal adoption facility, plus $300,000 each for a proposed teen depression project and a "Sustainability Program" in the Economic Development Department. Councilors also added in funding for a few program areas plus restored 33 of more than 200 currently unfilled job positions targeted for deletion in the original budget proposed by the mayor. It also gave city employees a pay increase of up to 3.5 percent. The $475 million budget increased the mayor’s proposed budget by by .05 percent and came in under the 2008 budget by about 6 percent.