Governing Body Committee Meeting 10/14/2026

The City of Santa Fe Governing Body meeting on October 14, 2026, included a fiscal year 2026 health-benefits performance report. The city’s benefits consultant, Aon, reported that the Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico medical and pharmacy plans—selected through an earlier RFP—had $23.1 million in net costs against an effective $24.2 million budget, yielding an estimated $1.1 million surplus. The report included $895,000 in stop-loss reimbursements and $1.6 million in pharmacy rebates; the consultant did not provide a quantified comparison with the former Cigna plan. The city and employee premium rates and plan design were reported unchanged for FY 2026–27. The governing body also approved a $1,328,367.74 settlement agreement and release of funds in litigation; Councilor Chavez recused herself. A bill was introduced authorizing a $2.55 million New Mexico Finance Authority water-project loan/grant, including a $1.02 million loan, for design of water-system chemical-feed equipment upgrades; no adoption vote is shown in the transcript.

Other actions included approval of the 2027 meeting calendar’s second option and approval of a rezoning and development plan for 1202 West Alameda Street, allowing specified residential, retail, restaurant, workshop, and related uses. Public commenters raised concerns about emergency shelter funding and referred to alleged city spending of $2.2 million for police drones and a $7 million median-beautification request; these were public comments, not spending actions taken at this meeting. No other procurement awards or bid approvals were identified.