Albuquerque - Government

Government

Albuquerque is a charter city. City government is divided into an executive branch, headed by a Mayor and a nine-member Council that holds the legislative authority. The form of city government is therefore mayor-council government. The mayor is Richard J. Berry, a former state legislator, who was elected in 2009.

The Mayor holds a full-time paid elected position with a four-year term. The Council members hold part-time paid positions and are elected from the nine Council districts for four-year terms, with four or five Councilors elected every two years. Elections for Mayor and Councilor are nonpartisan. Each year in December one of the Council members is elected by the members of the Council to be the Council President, and one is elected to be the Vice-President. On December 1, 2008, Isaac Benton was elected President of the Council for the next year and Sally Mayer was elected Vice-President.

The Council is the legislative authority of the city, and has the power to adopt all ordinances, resolutions, or other legislation. The Council meets two times a month, with meetings held in the Vincent E. Griego Council Chambers in the basement level of Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government Center. Ordinances and resolutions passed by the Council are presented to the Mayor for his approval. If the Mayor vetoes an item, the Council can override the veto with a vote of two-thirds of the membership of the Council.

Each year, the Mayor submits a city budget proposal for the year to the Council by April 1, and the Council acts on the proposal within the next 60 days.