Capital requests in hands of governor

Mar. 25—Area legislators have requested $39.9 million in Capital Outlay funds for Curry and Roosevelt counties in House Bill 505. The requests are now in the hands of Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham awaiting her approval or line-item veto by April 7.

A review of legislative records shows area Republican legislators, Sens. Stuart Ingle and Pat Woods and Reps. Andrea Reeb, Martin Zamora and Jack Chatfield, whose districts include portions of Curry and Roosevelt counties, put in for funds for multiple projects.

Curry County Manager Lance Pyle said the biggest "give" from the list is $14 million for a magistrate court annex to the county courthouse.

"The County has a partnership with Administrative Office of Courts (AOC) on the magistrate court Facility," Pyle wrote in an email response. "The facility will be constructed and connected to the back of the courthouse addition that is set to be completed this summer."

Pyle wrote the project will have magistrate and district court in the same building and will enhance security for magistrate court and detainee transfers to the court facilities."

Pyle said he is also pleased with the potential funding of $10 million from Lujan Grisham towards the Regional Behavior Health Facility.

"We knew this was going to have to be a phased project and the partnership and commitments of the five Counties, three cities and others is impressive," Pyle wrote. "Working with (Clovis) Mayor (Mike) Morris and the other entities we are looking at other funding opportunities to continue to move this forward and make it happen for our region."

Pyle anticipates an additional request will come for the 2024 legislative session.

Pyle noted Curry County requested $5.17 million for a multi-purpose livestock pavilion but the amount allocated in HB 505 was $1.02 million.

"The County Commission will be looking at other funding options and taking action Tuesday to fund the remainder needed," Pyle wrote.

Pyle noted the livestock pavilion project has been in planning and discussion for more than 10 years and it will move forward this year and be completed in 2024.

Pyle said the county asked the Legislature for $1.38 million for road improvements but only received $162,000.

"That will be a challenge for the County and we currently are looking at grants and other funding opportunities that may be available to assist with the projects," Pyle wrote.

Other funds requested for Clovis and Curry County include:

— $280,000 for Clovis Community College (CCC) bathroom renovations.

— $523,086 for building improvements at CCC.

— $278,000 toward the County Recreation Complex.

— $100,000 for improvements to the Eastern Plains Council of Governments office in downtown Clovis.

— $33,560 for the Grady Senior Center.

— $210,000 for a replacement school bus for Melrose schools.

Clovis Mainstreet's Director Lisa Pelligrino-Spear said $250,000 for improvements and $500,000 for lighting downtown are targeted for revitalizing downtown Clovis' historic railroad district, which runs from a block south of First Street north to Eighth Street.

"We will be using (the funds also) for engineering and design documents and implementation of phase one of the new historic designed pedestrian downtown for a safe and better lit downtown," Pelligrino-Spear said.

One project in Clovis given funding by HB 505 is $840,000 for roof replacement to include HVAC work at Clovis' Roy Walker Recreation Center, according to Assistant City Manager Claire Burroughes.

"There will be $200,000 for street lighting construction in Clovis," Burroughes said. "This is something commissioners Helen Casaus and Chris Bryant have been pushing for."

Another $300,000 is on the Capital Outlay list for park improvements in Clovis.

"We asked for $500,000 for design plans for Llano Estacado Boulevard east of Norris Street," Burroughes said. "That was denied. We'll be looking to apply for federal Transportation Project Funds for that."

Burroughes said the city was denied a request for $2 million for the Purdue Street drainage project.

"We'll be applying for Transportation Project Funds for that also," Burroughes said.

The funding requests for Curry County and Clovis come to just over $29.33 million.

In Roosevelt County, County Manager Amber Hamilton said HB 505 allotted $100,000 for heavy equipment for the road department.

"The total request for road heavy equipment was $802,738," Hamilton wrote via email. "The request included a chip spreader, distributor truck and other smaller pieces of equipment to sustain the county's current ability to rehabilitate our own roadways and not need to contract out the work."

Hamilton noted while $400,000 was allocated to the county for road improvement projects, the request was for $854,960.

Hamilton said that would have fully funded the needed road improvements for 2024 identified in the county commission's five-year road plan.

"The appropriation of $400,000 will be utilized to complete as many road projects as possible, with any remaining needs be adjusted forward to future years in the plan by the commission," Hamilton wrote.

Hamilton also said she is pleased with the $10 million allocation for the Regional Behavioral Health Facility.

"A win for the entire region as work continues forward on this initiative," Hamilton said.

Other allocations for the Roosevelt County area include:

— $325,000 was requested for a school bus purchase for Elida schools.

— $110,000 for improvements to Elida schools.

— $175,000 for floor improvements for Floyd schools gym.

— $250,000 for a chip spreader for Portales.

— $100,000 to buy emulsion tanks in Portales.

— $1.62 million for Roosevelt General Hospital ICU construction.

The third largest allocation for the area from HB 505 is $5 million related to construction costs of the new science center at Eastern New Mexico University. University officials declined to discuss the proposed science center, saying: "ENMU is not announcing anything yet (regarding Capital Outlays) until the Governor signs the bills."

In addition to the science center allocation, other requests were put in for ENMU:

— $500,000 for door access control system equipment.

— $25,000 for work on the Greyhound soccer field.

— $472,000 for resonance spectroscope equipment.

— $400,000 for transmitter and broadcast equipment improvements.

— $500,000 for video equipment.

The funding requests for Roosevelt County and Portales come to just under $10.6 million.

Ingle said the funding bill was passed by the Senate on its final vote March 15.

"There has been no veto action on it," Ingle said Wednesday.

"We got record monies this year," Zamora said. "We got record amounts of capital outlay requests too, but we couldn't fund them all."

Total funding requests in the Capital Outlay bill come to more than $1.234 billion.

Bernalillo County, including Albuquerque, has put in requests of $208.59 million, the most of any county in the state. Doña Ana County came in second with $76.1 million in projects, Santa Fe County with $73.43 million was third.

Of the state's counties, Quay County had the least amount of the Capital Outlay requests, $1.84 million.