Legislature takes back funding for local projects
Wednesday, February 24, 2010, 11:38pm
Legislation awaiting Gov. Bill Richardson’s signature could cut more than $1.6 million in capital outlay money earmarked for 46 projects in Valencia County.
The legislation — SB182 — lists projects throughout the county whose money could be taken away because the projects didn’t have third-party contracts, had no activity or had a remaining balance after the project had been completed.
The City of Belen will lose more than $147,000 marked for improvements to baseball fields at Belen’s Eagle Multipurpose Park. The city will also lose $100,000 for arsenic removal and treatment facilities and $22,000 for the restoration of the Doodlebug, an old-fashioned train car near Becker Avenue.
Rancho Cielo, a master-planned development west of Los Chavez, will lose $50,000 earmarked for an interchange at Miller Road.
The Village of Bosque Farms will lose $30,000 it could have put toward improving the Bosque Farms Library. It’ll also lose $23,000 for water tank storage improvements, $15,000 for improvements to its wastewater treatment plant, and $7,500 it could have used to purchase a police unit.
Valencia County will lose $164,000 for improvements to the Don Jose y Dolores Cordova Cultural Center in Jarales, $100,000 for a traffic light at Highway 304 and Golf Course Road, $100,000 to put toward the construction of a new county administration building, and $50,000 for planning improvements to El Cerro Mission Boulevard.
The county also lost $33,000 for the purchase of an El Cerro Fire Station tanker and $20,000 for building improvements at the Conejo Convenience Station, as well as $627,000 from a $1.5-million appropriation to develop a master plan for water and wastewater infrastructure.
Belen Consolidated Schools lost $70,000 for a drop-off area at Rio Grande Elementary School.
Los Lunas Schools, the Town of Peralta and the Village of Los Lunas don’t appear to be losing any significant amounts of capital outlay money.
Other projects, many already completed but with unexpended balances, will also have their money reverted back to the state.
