Corrales starts fiscal 2027 budget plan, public safety drives spending proposal

Public safety is already setting the terms of Corrales’ next budget fight. In the village’s preliminary fiscal 2026-27 plan, the Police Department and Fire Department are each slated to spend more than $2 million, together taking up more than one-third of the $11.31 million general fund and crowding out room for everything else.

The Corrales Village Council approved the preliminary budget on May 12, and the final version will come back July 23. The draft lists $11,309,971.54 in expenditures against $11,379,181.27 in budgeted revenue, leaving only a narrow cushion as the village heads toward a year when even small changes in collections could force tradeoffs in staffing, services or capital work. The current year’s budget, adopted July 22, 2025, gives the village a recent baseline, and the new plan is about 5.5% higher.

The first pressure points are easy to see in the village’s own numbers. Corrales increased revenue estimates for gym memberships because that money is actually coming in, and court fine revenue was raised after staff reviewed three years of payments. The general fund also carries a 2.8% cost-of-living adjustment for employees, excluding part-time temporary workers. That shows the council trying to keep pay competitive without opening the door to broad new spending.

At the same time, the draft keeps $50,000 for architectural needs and starts a planning fund with $50,000 from the FY26 Stagecoach Sweep, while council direction also prompted staff to examine whether Corrales should create an emergency fund. No money was added to that reserve in the initial draft, which means any future decision to build one would have to come from somewhere else in the budget. If revenue softens, those are the kinds of items that could be pushed back before core services are touched.

The fire side of the budget makes the long-term stakes even clearer. Fire Chief Anthony Martinez said water for fire suppression remains the top priority, but the department also needs a new substation, a remodel of Fire Station No. 1 and a new training site. The April 30 agenda listed a $500,000 training center cost, with $148,500 already collected, along with a $700,000 equipment request and a $175,000 estimate for the station remodel.

That capital wish list sits beside even larger items in Corrales’ infrastructure plan, including $4 million for village-wide fire suppression, $1.3 million for a new substation and $2.75 million for four apparatus. The village is also preparing two new bond accounts for an upcoming bond sale before June 30, 2026, after voters approved $4 million in bonds in November 2023. The first $2.4 million sold in June 2024, and the village said the package was structured to keep the mill levy constant and avoid raising property taxes. In Corrales, the 2027 budget is less about abstract planning than deciding which services stay whole, which projects wait, and how much more residents are asked to carry in the years ahead.