Some projects protected, others could be cut

October 28, 2009

The New Mexico Legislature considered cutting funding for a number of Valencia County projects during the special session, but also moved to protect others.

Gov. Bill Richardson announced Monday that he wants the legislature to take seriously an amendment calling for $150 million in cuts to capital outlay projects. Sen. Michael Sanchez explained yesterday that he doesn’t mind project cuts, partly because there aren’t many Valencia County projects eligible for cuts.

The projects in danger of losing their funding are uncertain at this point. There’s one definitive list showing the projects that could be cut, a list produced by the legislature. The list is fluid, however, and will likely continue to change through January, with projects added and removed due to pressure by both legislators and lobbyists.

What is clear is that some projects appear to have already been protected by the legislature — if the governor signs one of the bill’s on his desk — by swapping those projects’ appropriations from the general fund to severance tax bonds. The projects protected in that bill are:

$625,000 for planning, designing and constructing improvements to Highway 6 in Los Lunas.

$300,000 for planning, designing, purchasing and installing traffic lights at the intersection of Highway 304 and Highway 47 in Rio Communities.

$200,000 for planning, designing and constructing an eastside well, including arsenic mitigation, in Los Lunas.

$170,000 for resurfacing, widening, striping, lighting, and adding pedestrian trails and crossings to Highway 314 in Los Lunas.

$158,400 for planning, designing and renovating a building at Bosque Farms Elementary School.

$148,500 for the design, constructing and equipping of the gymnasium at Dennis Chavez Elementary School.

$115,000 for planning, designing and constructing, including extending, Christopher Road in Belen.

$100,000 for purchasing and installing improvements, including lighting, at the soccer fields at Los Lunas High School.

$80,000 for connecting Ann Parish Elementary School to the Cyprus Gardens community water system.

Some of those projects have been completed and the funding at risk was merely money not spent, what the state calls the “unexpended balance.” Some of those projects have been contracted out and won’t qualify to be cut. Regardless, coming from a new funding source, if the governor approves of it, the money for those projects will likely remain secure.

Other projects were at risk during the special session but didn’t make it onto lists for cuts but also weren’t protected by the funding swap. Those projects included things like $140,000 for the purchase and renovation of Peralta Town Hall, $55,000 to improve the Bosque Farms Library, $192,000 for the Don Jose y Dolores Cordova Cultural Center in Jarales, and $446,500 for Los Lunas High School weight and training room construction and improvements. Some of those unprotected projects are completed or contracted out.

“We’ve covered most of ours,” Sanchez said of efforts to get projects moving and completed. “We’ve expended most of the monies we had out. I’m on top of it.”

Uncompleted projects, including some that are stalled and have never begun, remain at risk as the legislature moves forward with identifying $150 million worth of projects to cut. With the governor’s freeze, local governments can’t start stalled projects.

Four other Valencia County projects were slated to be cut had the legislature moved forward with capital outlay cuts at the special session. Those projects, on the legislature’s list, were:

$2,970,000 for reconstruction of the North Belen Interchange and Signet Solar.

$2,706,924 for reconstruction of the North Belen Interchange.

$50,000 for El Cerro Mission Boulevard planning and design.

$30,785 Bosque Farms water tank storage

The El Cerro Mission project was identified as stalled. The Bosque Farms project was completed with an unexpended balance.

The Rancho Cielo industrial, commercial and housing development west of Los Chavez was listed as “postponed” by the State of New Mexico, which put the nearly $6 million in state money for that development at risk. The money would be used primarily to provide access to the development on the west side of the interstate.

Those two Rancho Cielo appropriations, which stayed on the list for most of last week, were removed from the chopping block by Friday, after the developer’s lobbyist and at least one state representative worked to remove them.

Posted in: Budget Infrastructure