Government and politics
The city of Albuquerque is served by an elected four-year term mayor and a nine-member city council. The Albuquerque City Council is the legislative authority of the city, and has the power to adopt all ordinances, resolutions, or other legislation. The council members are elected from the nine council districts on four-year terms, with four or five districted Councilors elected every two years. One of the council members is elected by the members of the council to be the Council President, another is elected by the council to be the Vice-President.
The mayor can approve or veto any decision made by the council. However, the council can override the mayor's veto with a six out of nine member vote. Each year, the mayor submits his or her city budget proposal for the year to the council on April 1, and the council spends the next 60 days discussing the budget before voting on the final budget in late May.
In the summer of 2005, ACORN community groups placed a minimum wage initiative on the October 4 ballot. The initiative would have created a city wide minimum wage of $7.50. The measure was defeated by less than one percent. In April of 2006, the Albuquerque City Council and Mayor Martin Chavez worked together to enact a minimum wage ordinance. The ordinance requires that beginning on January 1, 2007, the City of Albuquerque enforce a minimum wage of $6.75 per hour, followed by a raise to $7.15 after one year and finally to $7.50 on January 1, 2009.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
