Who’s right in dispute over aquatic center funding?

There’s quite a dispute brewing over how much money Gov. Bill Richardson promised in 2006 to help fund the planned aquatic and recreation center in Las Cruces.

Las Cruces City Manager Terrence Moore wrote in his Friday information letter to city councilors that, despite “seemingly universal understanding by all involved, including state legislators, city administration and (city) lobbyist Ray Davenport” that the governor would give the city $10 million for the project, Richardson’s office now says he is only going to give $5 million.

The governor’s office says Richardson gave $5 million from his own capital outlay in 2006 and pledged to help the city secure another $5 million in the form of a low-interest loan from the New Mexico Finance Authority.

Here’s what I know, starting from the beginning:

This was a project initiated by state Rep. Joseph Cervantes, not the city or the governor. Cervantes worked hard to get legislators and the governor on board, and they jointly announced, publicly, on Jan. 30, 2006 that they would provide $20 million for the project – $10 million from Richardson and another $10 million from the county’s lawmakers – all of it capital outlay money the city wouldn’t have to repay. I wasn’t at the announcement, but those numbers came from multiple news reports.

Making the $20-million pledge a reality became difficult, as is so often the case in Santa Fe, as the legislative session dragged on. By the end of the session in mid-February, lawmakers had given a combined $8 million. And Richardson, when all was said and done, had given $5 million from his share of the capital outlay money.

My recollection is that, at the time, Richardson, who chairs the state finance authority, promised a low-interest loan to provide another $5 million and bring the total funding to $18 million.

But the city disagrees. Davenport wrote in an Aug. 13, 2007 memo to Richardson Chief of Staff James Jimenez that he understood that Richardson promised $5 million from his capital outlay money and $5 million from a state bond issue, not a loan. To further complicate the situation, the city put out a news release on Oct. 2, 2007 stating that $12.7 million was allocated by area lawmakers – which was an incorrect number – and only $5 million was provided by Richardson.

The Las Cruces Sun-News reported Sunday that the first time Moore learned that the state thought the city was taking out a $5 million loan was at a meeting on Jan. 28 of this year.

But Cervantes said in an interview on Sunday that Richardson is correct.

“The governor is right. I was the one who put together the deal,” Cervantes said. “It’s been pretty clear all along that that’s the way it was. It was supposed to be a very favorable, low-interest-rate loan.”

Like I said, though it’s absolutely true that Richardson originally pledged $10 million and the lawmakers pledged another $10 million, my recollection is that the final deal from the 2006 session – a deal that’s been in place for about two years – provided $13 million in state capitol-outlay funding and another $5 million in the form of a low-interest loan. That’s exactly what Richardson and Cervantes now say is correct.

Whatever the case, the city is now facing the possibility of having to scale back the project. It had no plans to take out a loan, and, as I wrote earlier, didn’t even initiate this project, which was conceived by Cervantes’ daughters after they visited the Genoveva Chavez Center in Santa Fe. It’s a fabulous facility, and it’s unfortunate that Las Cruces might not be able to build a similarly nice recreation center.