las cruces voters to decide on $35 million general obligation bond

Funding for a new fire station, updated park facilities, and enhanced walking and jogging trails, are all projects that are a part of a big general obligation bond to be decided on by Las Cruces voters in August.

Members of the Las Cruces City Council have given their approval to both calling for the bond election, as well as the various projects across the city to be funded by that bond.

Included in those projects is $6.1 million in funding to build a new Las Cruces Fire Station Number Three on the west side of the city. That facility will replace a station built in 1967, which fire department officials say is outdated and too small.

Just under $17 million in the bond will go for the updating of the city’s parks, a project that will see improvements to the Desert Trails Park, Young Park, and Apodaca Park, along with upgrades to the Hadley Complex in central Las Cruces, and basketball and tennis court improvements at nearly a dozen parks.

Some $9.8 million will go for the construction of a new stray animal and adoption center at 3551 Bataan Memorial West, along with another $2.7 million for walking and jogging trails, as well as the upgrading of laterals in the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.

The bond election is scheduled for August 21. An informal online survey conducted by the City of Las Cruces has shown better than two-to-one support for all of the bond-funded projects listed.

By Garry Boulard