ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Albuquerque City Council voted Monday on a key veto by the mayor and changes to Albuquerque Fire Rescue.

City councilors also voted 8-1 on Monday to divert $500,000 from the Rail Trail to a proposed sports complex on the West Side. Councilors already voted to divert that money. Then, Mayor Tim Keller issued a line-item veto, canceling out the $1 million in total funding for the sports complex. After this, he held a “Rail Trail Rally” to share information about the project and recognize community advocates.

City Council President Brook Bassan called it disrespectful and inappropriate.

“I hope that as a message we do override the mayor’s veto because I think the way this happened is something that is regrettable and I hope that is something the mayor understands and sees,” she said.

The mayor was confident the council would uphold his veto. However, Tammy Fiebelkorn was the only councilor to side with him in the matter.

The mayor said he supported both projects but didn’t support taking funding away from one that’s already under construction. Councilor Louie Sanchez said $500,000 is a mere drop in the bucket of the $100 million the Rail Trail will cost.

“You’re looking at less than one-half of a cent in the overall picture. We don’t even carry one penny in our pockets. You can’t make half-a-cent but that’s how much we’re looking at,” he said.

After voting to override the veto, councilors voted to put that $500,000 back toward the Rail Trail.

“This is what our community asked for, restoring funding so the Rail Trail can keep moving forward and become a transformative landmark for Albuquerque. By working together, we’ve kept construction on track, without having to choose between projects or neighborhoods,” the mayor stated Tuesday.

City councilors Dan Lewis and Joaquin Baca sponsored a resolution to requires all AFR stations to have two paramedics on an ambulance responding with fire engines.

Recently, AFR proposed having one paramedic on a fire rescue unit, instead of two. AFR Chief Emily Jaramillo said she wanted to replace that second paramedic with a firefighter with basic EMT training. She said splitting up those paramedics leaves one to respond to a different emergency as they struggle to recruit paramedics.

However, the firefighters’ union pushed back, stating they want to keep EMTs as a pair. Several current and retired firefighters spoke Monday in support of the resolution. Chief Jaramillo also spoke Monday.

After all of this, councilors passed the resolution on a 7-2 vote.