Michael Swickard
In the last month I have had a front-row seat to a controversy in which the Las Cruces leadership has acted improperly. At stake are millions of dollars and jobs for our local economy. Also at stake is the reputation of our city, with companies wanting to do business but unsure if the city leadership can be trusted.
Several years ago a golf course to replace the Las Cruces County Club course was built on the East Mesa as the centerpiece to a large development. Last year a road was put in by the developer of the project to the golf course but the city council said a second road was necessary for the facility to be used.
So the golf course has sat as a stranded asset for a long time using water but not generating tax revenue.
Concurrently, the Las Cruces Public Schools (LCPS) decided to build an elementary and a middle school near the golf course, in part to use a planned four-lane road for access and the water and sewage development. The first developer left the project unresolved, and the current developer, who has been in the community for 20 years and has successfully done several large projects, tried to find a win/win method to resolve getting the development project done while providing infrastructure for the schools.
Special assessment district stalls
The stimulus money that might have built the $10 million, two-mile, four-lane road with the water and sewer was lost when the funds dried up last year. So late last year the four-lane road was planned using a financing method called a special assessment district. This is an often used method of privately financing infrastructure development.
Staff members at both LCPS and the city, along with city bond counsel, the city finance director, and the single property owner/developer in the special assessment district worked diligently and reached detailed agreements in January of 2010.
The Las Cruces City Council reviewed the proposal and voted 7-0 in favor of a resolution to get the private funding for the special assessment district finalized and the road completed. Detailed descriptions and surveys of the property to be assessed to pay for the project were sent out for an independent appraisal after the council’s unanimous vote.
Then, inexplicably and without any notice to LCPS staff or the business people funding the special assessment district, in an early April work session it became clear that six city councilors, all speaking from what seems the same talking points, reversed their January positions, so the project stalled. The schools have moved as quickly as they could and hope to have a temporary two-lane road to their schools. But in doing so they have had to spend money they had not intended to lose to the infrastructure cost.
Thousands of hours of planning and untold dollars spent in good faith were squandered. These six councilors left LCPS, local area residents, the business people providing the financing, and all local unemployed road building and construction workers in the lurch. During the April work session, only the mayor tried desperately to avert the disaster.
LCPS loses out on $1 million reimbursement
On the talk show I do with Jim Spence, News New Mexico, Mayor Ken Miyagishima attributed the problem to the “inexperience” of the other six councilors as well as misinformation fed to councilors by still unknown parties. The mayor also made it known for the first time that the school district would lose out on a $1 million reimbursement commitment from the special assessment district property owner so now the schools must spend their own money and the temporary road will be removed when the real four-lane road is finally built.
Confirming the details of this was LCPS Associate Superintendant Herb Torres. Local businessman John Moscato, representing the sole property owner providing the assessed property for the entire road building project, also confirmed what Mayor Miyagishima had said.
What is obvious at this point is that this is no way for the city of Las Cruces to do business. Many other companies will be watching to see if the city can be trusted to stand by their word. One thing is for sure: This time they did not.
Swickard is a weekly columnist for this site. You can reach him at michael@swickard.com.
Swickard bio │ Archives │ Feed