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Mayor shoots down councilors' proposals

By Christopher Sanchez
Saturday, June 16, 2007

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City Council members were hoping voters might raise their salary in the next municipal election.

They might have to panhandle instead.

Mayor Martin Chavez used his veto pen Friday to slash two proposed amendments to the city charter that would go to voters Oct. 2, including a salary increase.

Chavez said in a veto message that councilors should not receive a pay raise, in part because they postponed a tax relief measure.

He also chided the council for trying to make it more difficult to recall city officials.

"At this time, I believe it is patently unfair to deny tax relief to working families . . . and simultaneously seek pay raises for city councilors and make those same officials virtually immune from recall," he wrote.

The spat stems from a council vote in May to give about $9 million to Bernalillo County for Metropolitan Detention Center operations, funding it with six months' proceeds of a city gross receipts tax cut that Chavez had proposed to begin Jan. 1.

Chavez characterized the decision as denying tax relief, though the council agreed to institute the tax cut six months later.

Chavez did not return phone calls Friday.

Councilor Ken Sanchez said he will seek to override the veto at Monday's council meeting.

"It's not the decision of the mayor," Sanchez said. "It's the decision of the voters in Albuquerque."

Sanchez could have a hard time getting the six votes needed to override a veto. The council voted 5-4 to raise the salary from $10,000 to $30,000 earlier this month by tying the pay to a figure determined by the Legislature for Class A counties.

The council has asked voters for a pay increase 10 times since 1977. It was voted down each time, including in 2004.

Chavez also vetoed a proposed charter amendment to make it more difficult to recall a city official.

The proposed amendment would require a voter to file a lawsuit against a city official and prove misconduct in District Court before a petition can circulate.

As it stands now, voters can begin a petition to recall a city official for any reason.

Chavez said the amendment would "take away a voter's right" to recall.

"No elected official of the city of Albuquerque has ever been recalled," Chavez said in his veto message. "To raise the bar even further is unwise public policy which will further remove elected officials from the desires of their constituents."

Councilor Craig Loy said that since the council passed the measure 8-1 earlier this month, overturning Chavez's decision is within reach.

"I would anticipate at least keeping six to override it," Loy said.

Chavez might face recall problems of his own. On Wednesday, an Albuquerque voter started paperwork to recall the mayor.

S Pyke - S is his first name - said he isn't happy about the mayor's ban on smoking on city property that went into effect Friday. Chavez signed the executive order to correspond with a statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants that also took effect Friday.

"My front porch is going to be my last sanctuary," Pyke said. "And then they're going to come and say I can't smoke there."

Pyke will need the signatures of 21,823 registered city voters by Aug. 13 - an average of 363 every day.

Pyke said he plans to garner support from bar patrons.

"I don't know if it's going to happen," he said. "It might just not go anywhere."

He has collected 49 signatures so far, he said Friday.