May 4—The city wants to raise the price of coffee at its senior centers, but one elected official says he can already sense the backlash brewing.
With Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller's fiscal year 2023 budget proposal working its way through the approval and amendment process, City Councilor Pat Davis is questioning whether its planned 20-cent-per-cup price hike is worth the trouble.
The Senior Affairs Department currently charges 30 cents for java at its facilities. Keller's budget proposal would raise it to 50 cents per cup.
The senior centers sell about 66,000 cups per year, according to a city spokeswoman.
Davis told Senior Affairs Director Anna Sanchez that the idea will probably generate more calls and emails — "nasty ones," he said — than any other matter the council discussed during a public budget hearing Thursday, and questioned the necessity given that the expected revenue gain of $6,000 is a hill of beans, relatively speaking. He asked if the department or Keller administration could find another source for that $6,000.
"Maybe better yet — if we're collecting all those quarters and dollars (for coffee) and have to do all that (associated) cash accounting, I wonder if we can't just find the $12,000 or $18,000 somewhere else in an $800 million budget to roll our coffee back and just make it free," Davis said.
Sanchez said she expected the proposal to attract some council scrutiny but that it was grounded in a careful evaluation of all the centers' food offerings and that "coffee is expensive."
"I was not going to take on burritos — I promise you — because they're one of the most popular things we offer your folks," she told the council's budget committee.
Even at a higher price, "we are still cheaper than McDonald's," Sanchez said.
While Senior Affairs already has begun communicating the proposed change to senior center clients, Sanchez said "we'd be happy to revisit (the proposal) as the council wishes."
The council's budget committee must hold three public hearings before approving a final version. The second hearing is scheduled for May 5.
RENT HELP: Bernalillo County is still looking to distribute the COVID-19 relief money it has to help residents pay their bills.
The county said its Emergency Rental Assistance Program already has helped over 531 households to the tune of $3.7 million, but continues accepting applications.
The program — funded with federal dollars — helps people who were financially harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic, including those who lost jobs. It offers emergency rental and utility bill assistance but is specific to those who live within Bernalillo County but not inside city of Albuquerque or tribal boundaries.