new mexico universities capital projects may get state funding

Taking advantage of unprecedented oil and gas tax revenue, members of the New Mexico State Legislature are considering passage of a bill that would provide substantial funding for a statewide series of campus capital projects.

As proposed, New Mexico State University stands to receive $880,000 for upgrades to its 1960s-era Fidel Hall on the school’s Grants campus.

Senate Bill 280 will also provide $1.6 million to demolish the Regents Row Residence Center on the main Las Cruces campus; along with $3 million to renovate utility tunnels on that same campus.

NMSU would additionally receive $425,000 to design and build a series of infrastructure upgrades on its Alamogordo campus.  
The legislation would provide $1.2 million for the construction of an electrical supply line and related infrastructure improvements on the Roswell campus of Eastern New Mexico University.

The school is also in line to get $436,000 for infrastructure improvements on its Ruidoso campus, and another $500,000, also for infrastructure work, on the Portales campus.

Western New Mexico State University would receive $1.2 million for the design and building of an electronic door system on its main Silver City campus, as well as $1.3 million for renovations to the school’s Miller Library and Student Memorial Center.

In an analysis of the bill, the Legislative Finance Committee noted that due to “unprecedented levels of nonrecurring general fund revenues related to historically high oil and gas production,” lawmakers this year have a unique opportunity to “cash-finance capital projects rather than relying on bonding.”

By Garry Boulard

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