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The fiscal 2027 Village of Corrales budget is moving toward approval, after councilors cleared up a lodger’s tax shortfall and administrators clarified the reason for a special fire department account.
The $20,000 lodger’s tax fund deficiency, Village Administrator Melanie Romero said, is due in part to the way that money is collected. She told councilors there are 35 short-term rentals registered in Corrales, but their lodger’s tax payments are self-reported. Romero said the matter is complicated by a mistaken belief among property owners that vacation rental websites pay the tax directly to the village.
The $11.31 million preliminary budget includes $2.28 million for the fire department and $2.18 million for the police department. The former expects to receive more than $155,000 for its firefighters’ out-of-state deployments, with about $330,000 currently in a related fund.
The preliminary budget is up about 5.5% from the current fiscal year, and includes a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for all village employees other than part-time temporary workers. The preliminary budget is due to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration by June 1. Final budget approval will take place at a July 23 council meeting, with the final spending plan then due to DFA by July 31.
Also at the meeting, councilors voted to approve the sale of $1.6 million in bonds to cover fire and flood control projects. The bonds are part of a $4 package approved by Corrales voters in 2023. The first $2.4 million in bonds were sold in 2024. Romero earlier told the Corrales Comment the sale was broken up into two parts to avoid raising property taxes.