new mexico legislature passes varied bond package

Voters in New Mexico may have the option in November of deciding whether to approve up to $165 million in general obligation bonds for more than one hundred school, senior center, and library construction and upgrading projects.

Senate Bill 94, proposed by Senator Carlos Cisneros, has won the approval of both houses of the legislature, and is now on its way to Governor Susana Martinez for her signature.

The bill proposes separate bond issues, with $10.7 million for senior citizen facilities statewide; $12.9 million for library resource acquisitions; and $135.9 million for higher education facilities, as well as tribal and special school improvements and acquisitions.
The legislation is the result of input from the state’s Aging and Long Term Services Department, which reported that it had received capital outlay requests of $29 million for senior centers facility work statewide.

The New Mexico Library Association requested $17.5 million for public libraries, and school, academic and tribal libraries. The $135.9 million for higher education facilities was pared down from an original $200 million request on the part of those institutions.

Of that amount, $16 million will go for modernizing the Clark Hall chemistry building at the University of New Mexico; and $7.5 million for renovations and upgrades to the Ken Chappy Hall on the campus of Central New Mexico Community College.

By Garry Boulard

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