The TIDD proposal for the controversial SunCal development on Albuquerque’s west side wasn’t the only proposal to use the controversial financing method that failed in the legislative session that just ended.
A proposal to use TIDD funding for redevelopment of Las Cruces’ downtown also died when House Speaker Ben Lujan failed to call it up for a vote on the final morning of the session on Saturday. The proposal would have committed a percentage of gross receipts tax collected in the special tax district around downtown to provide up to $7.25 million for the city’s attempt to revitalize the area.
The proposal, Senate Bill 19, was sponsored by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces. In an interview, Papen noted that the bill was on the House calendar for Saturday and, before that, had sailed through every committee hearing and a vote on the Senate floor without any lawmaker opposing it.
And, she noted, its approval was the top legislative priority for the City of Las Cruces this year.
“When it’s the No. 1 push that the city had, and it had no negative votes, to not be able to get that heard on the floor, I think that’s just shameful,” Papen said.
Papen said she’ll try to get the governor to agree to put the Las Cruces TIDD on the call for the special session he plans to convene later this year to deal with the state budget.