The Rio Rancho Governing Body held a work session on April 21, 2026, at 3:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting focused on the Municipal Court FY27 budget request, the City Manager's FY27 budget overview, and a roads update. No public comments were taken. The session adjourned at 4:29 PM.
Municipal Court FY27 Budget Request: Municipal Judge Cook reported that the court's budget remains essentially flat. Health insurance costs have decreased due to employees opting out, while interpreter costs have increased uncontrollably. No new requests were made. Councilor List thanked Judge Cook for providing regular updates.
City Manager FY27 Budget Overview: City Manager Matt Geisel presented the FY27 recommended budget, which is structurally balanced and maintains a 27% general fund ending balance (exceeding the 25% policy minimum). Key proposals include:
Roads Update: Director of Public Works BJ Gottlieb provided an annual update. The city has 495 centerline miles of paved roads and 116 miles of maintained unpaved roads. Since 2016, 50 major road projects have been completed, mostly funded by GO bonds. Key statistics and projects:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. You may be seated. Okay, I'll go ahead and call this work session to order. And let's see here. Miss Davis. Do I have an agenda? Thank you. Okay, first item on the uh but let me just do this real quick. I'll call roll and uh please silence all electronic devices while attending governing body meetings, and I'm gonna take that same advice right now. And then let's see here. And for the record, when I announce the names of the governing bodies, members that are present, please acknowledge by saying present. Uh councillor Dabson. Present. Thank you. Uh Councilor Lynantine, is he joining us online? Okay. Uh Council Tyler. Present. Thank you. Councillor Weimer is excused. Councilor Colbras. Present. Thank you. Councilor List. Present. Thank you. All righty. Moving on to the first item. Uh no public comment will be taken at this work session. So moving on to discussion, municipal court FY27 budget request. Judge Cook, welcome. Oh, and for the record, Jerry uh Councillor Lennon has just arrived. Good afternoon. Mayor and Counselor. Really don't have a lot to say. Our budget is recently flat. Oh, yeah. There we go. That works. Okay, thank you. We don't have a lot of requests. There is one thing that Miss Mascarina's brought to my attention. There was a decrease in health care costs to the city. We have some employees that have opted out for various reasons. But other than that, there are some things that are out of our control that uh have increased. Um the costs of interpreters is kind of skyrocketed. Um that's not a good thing, but it is uh totally out of our control. Beyond that, we don't have a whole lot to present uh beyond what is uh what you have in front of you. If you have any questions, please council, do we have any questions on this?