An update from ABQ City Council: minimum wage going up, and taxes too?

The Rio Grande Foundation pushed back last night against a hike in the minimum wage, but with 5 councilors going into the meeting broadly supportive of raising Albuquerque’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, it is hardly a surprise that something passed. Here are the details:

• Rather than going into effect starting in 2027 the $15 an hour wage will be phased in over three years starting in 2027. Not great, but better than the alternative.
• After 2030 the minimum wage will be tied to the Consumer Price Index (not the hybrid rate including rental prices).

This couldn’t be considered a win, but it is not as bad of a loss as it could have been. But, the die was cast in the last mayoral election. Reelecting Mayor Keller (who pushed the minimum wage hike) and the replacement of a conservative Democrat Louie Sanchez with a far-left Democrat Stephanie Tellez was enough to set the stage for a lot of bad policy.

Now, it looks like Councilor Brook Bassan is going to reintroduce a regressive gross receipts tax at Council. If passed, the proposal could increase the GRT rate by 0.4875% putting the rate above 8% costing taxpayers $113 million annually. The big change to this proposal is that unlike the last version, voters will have to sign off on this one. That means it requires only five votes to pass the council, instead of seven. The current total tax rate in Albuquerque is 7.625% in the City meaning the tax hike would take the City to 8.113 percent. Neighboring Rio Rancho which also has substantially lower property taxes has a 7.4375% GRT.

Bassan’s primary impetus seems to be to fund the vastly overbudget North Domingo Baca swimming pool (located in Bassan’s district), the cost of which has risen from $17 million to over $70 million. 

To her credit Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn, who introduced several amendments to the original proposal before it was ultimately voted down, told KRQE News 13 on Monday, “If it’s still using increased regressive taxes to pay for vanity projects, I’ll oppose.”