City of Española officials will enter a highly competitive environment inside the New Mexico State Capitol, in January, as they seek more than $2 million in Capital Outlay funding for local infrastructure projects.
They will request $2,115,000 in Capital Outlay funding from the New Mexico Legislature. When the regular session begins on Jan. 17, state lawmakers already facing unconstitutional budget deficits will weigh their requests and those of other local governments.
With feedback from elected officials and department heads, the top five priorities from a list of 18 desired projects have been chosen, Grant and Finance Manager Diahann Jacquez told city councilors during a regular meeting, Oct. 27.
The number one project, and the largest request for the upcoming session, is a $1.1 million, two-mile-long main sewer line extension beneath State Road 76, from the intersection with McCurdy Road, to the Bustos Curve, past the Santa Cruz Country Store.
The other four requests are $210,000 for the first phase of road improvements to North McCurdy Road, to be followed by a $1,388,000 request for the second phase later; $500,000 to design a sewer line beneath North Prince Drive; $75,000 for the first phase of an upgrade to the old, four-inch water lines beneath Riverside Drive, to be followed by a total of $2,725,000 in requests over the next three years; and $230,000 to design and construct a new sports park in Fairview, which will include little league and soccer fields.
Councilor John Hernandez asked if the projects are the only ones that will be submitted to the state in the upcoming session. He mentioned a planned $1 million reconstruction of Camino Miramontes, which will not be part of the city’s request to the state until 2019.
Mayor Alice Lucero said the city will pursue other types of funding for that project and others that didn’t make the top five.
“The more we ask for, maybe the more we get?” Hernandez asked.
Lucero said that sometimes, it doesn’t work that way.
“The Legislature doesn’t like to see big requests because they usually, what they said is, when you ask for too much money, they kind of ignore it,” she said. “You have a better chance by not asking for too much.”
Capital Outlay projects are funded by a combination of Severance Tax Bonds, General Obligation Bonds and cash from the state’s General Fund. Española will have to compete with other local governments for that funding, as the state faces a $100 million deficit, zero cash reserves and downgraded bond ratings from Moody’s Investors Service, which will add to the costs it will pay to borrow money.
Over the course of the next six years, the city will ask for a total of $43.3 million in hope of funding 18 different proposed projects, according to their Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan, which was formally adopted, Aug. 23, by the city council.
“This doesn’t mean the projects will be funded,” Planning Director Patrick Nicholson said. “It’s just a request.”
Lucero, City Manager Mark Trujillo and any city councilor interested, will lead the effort to lobby state lawmakers for the funding, and possibly legislation, Trujillo said in an Aug. 26 interview.
“We’ll get together packets for different legislators that we want to help pass through some ICIP (Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan) funding for us,” he said. “The packet will show them we have a plan, we have shovel-ready designs.”
The city’s team will also try to show lawmakers what negative effects would occur if the city didn’t get the funding.
“A lot of years, when they (city officials) have been going, they’ve just been going over there and saying, ‘Well, can we have $10 million? This is what we want,’” Trujillo said. “They didn’t really go in with a direct plan. Now we’re going in, doing our homework, and having a plan.”
Trujillo said the city will cultivate relationships with lawmakers for funding and to introduce bills, but he wouldn’t say exactly what bills the city wants. The lawmakers representing the area are Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Rio Arriba, Santa Fe and Taos counties and Sen. Richard Martinez, D-Los Alamos, Rio Arriba, Sandoval and Santa Fe counties.