Council slashes mayor's travel budget

SOME ALBUQUERQUE CITY COUNCILORS SAY MAYOR MARTIN CHAVEZ HAS BEEN SPENDING TOO MUCH MONEY ON HIS TRIPS -- AND WONDERING WHAT THE CITY IS GETTING OUT OF IT SO NOW THEY VE CUT HIS TRAVEL BUDGET JEFF MAHER IS LIVE AT CITY HALL WITH THE STORY JEFF WHETHER IT S TRAVELING TO CHIHUAHUA CITY MEXICO FOR TRADE DELEGATIONS PICKING UP AWARDS IN D C OR GOING ACROSS THE WORLD TO CHINA TO TRY AND BRING A PANDA TO THE RIO GRANDE ZOO - - MAYOR CHAVEZ DOES A LOT OF TRAVELING BUT THIS WEEK THE CITY COUNCIL DECIDED ENOUGH S ENOUGH so I think we re just starting to question - is his travel really in the best interest of the city ACCORDING TO THE CITY S WEBSITE IN THE LAST FIVE MONTHS - MAYOR CHAVEZ HAS SPENT AT LEAST 12- THOUSAND DOLLARS FOR TRIPS OUT OF STATE RECENT TRIPS STILL NEED TO BE ADDED CITY COUNCILORS MICHAEL CADIGAN AND BRAD WINTER SAY IT S GOTTEN OUT OF CONTROL LATELY his amount of travel has increased significantly he s been doing a lot of travel THE MAYOR S TRAVEL BUDGET FOR 2007 WAS and 036 44 380 THIS YEAR IT WENT UP TO and 036 65 000 FOR 2009 HE WAS ASKING FOR THE SAME AMOUNT - BUT INSTEAD THE CITY COUNCIL APPROVED A 20-PERCENT CUT FOR ALL OF THE CITY S TRAVEL BUDGET - INCLUDING THE MAYOR S SO NEXT YEAR HE LL HAVE A BIT LESS TO WORK WITH - and 036 52 000 so a 20-thousand dollar increase over the prior year we just didn t think that was in line with a budget that was proposing to cut back on bus drivers cut back on planning staff cut back on code enforcement THE MAYOR S CHINA TRIP LAST YEAR TO TRY AND GET ALBUQUERQUE A PANDA COST MORE THAN 8-THOUSAND DOLLARS CADIGAN SAYS THAT DEAL FELL THROUGH A SPOKESPERSON FOR THE MAYOR SAYS THE TRIPS THAT THE MAYOR HAS TAKEN HAVE IMPROVED ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN ALBUQUERQUE THOUSANDS OF JOBS HAVE COME TO OUR CITY BECAUSE OF THE MAYOR BEING ONE OF THE MOST SUSTAINABLE GREEN LEADERS IN AMERICA MAYOR CHAVEZ HAS CERTAINLY PROVEN HE IS FINANCIALLY PRUDENT AND WILL WORK WITHIN WHATEVER TRAVELING BUDGET THE TAXPAYERS FEEL IS PERMISSIBLE THE MAYOR JUST GOT BACK FROM A TRIP TO THE EAST COAST THIS EVENING A SPOKESPERSON SAYS BECAUSE OF THAT TRIP - ALBUQUERQUE WAS GIVEN THE HIGHEST BOND RATING THE CITY HAS EVER SEEN - WHICH MEANS OTHER BIG COMPANIES ARE LIKELY TO INVEST HERE LIVE AT CITY HALL JEFF MAHER