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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Lawmakers Earmark Money

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
    State Rep. Kathy McCoy and State Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort want to give money away, if Gov. Bill Richardson allows it.
    Both have committed their capital outlay allocations to various projects in the East Mountains and surrounding areas, but are waiting to see whether Richardson makes a round of line-item vetoes.
    They expect to know around the middle of March.
    McCoy said the governor was holding out these capital projects as a "carrot." In a related comment, she said she still doesn't know enough about his health care initiative to "jump into it."
    She said she doesn't want to see the state in a deficit situation.
    "We have to be very careful," she said.
    Even if the projects are approved, McCoy had only $800,000 to dole out, which is half of what she had last year.
    She appropriated the largest portion of that, $100,000, to a proposed $10 million East Mountain Regional Animal Shelter.
    The shelter would be located in Edgewood and serve municipalities and unincorporated areas in parts of Bernalillo, Torrance and Santa Fe counties.
    McCoy also supported three other projects in and near Edgewood: $25,000 for Edgewood's library, $15,000 for the senior center in Edgewood and $25,000 for proposed recreational fields in Edgewood.
    Beffort supported the recreational fields to the tune of $260,000.
    "I like to give to things that help families and young people," she said. "I want to have the East Mountains self-contained, so people don't have to commute (to Albuquerque)."
    She said recreational fields may also help attract students to the Moriarty-Edgewood School District.
    Unfortunately, the governing body of the town was somewhat divided on the issue of whether the fields were appropriate at this time.
    "I wish that, in the future, that the Edgewood leadership would be more cohesive," she said. "So that we (legislators) can feel really confident."
    Beffort and McCoy both contributed to a proposed $1 million project to build trails along Frost Road near N.M. 14. McCoy's share was $50,000 and Beffort kicked in $260,000.
    Beffort gave the largest amount from her funding, $450,000, to fund a running track at Roosevelt Middle School. The total cost for the track is around $500,000.
    McCoy contributed $50,000 to that project.
    Both legislators also supported a fire hydrant project in Cedar Crest, appropriated funding to East Mountain High School and also gave to public schools in the area.
    Beffort appropriated $28,000 to a senior center in Tijeras and McCoy committed $50,000.
    McCoy also gave $40,000 to the library in Tijeras and contributed another $40,000 toward the village sewer system.
    This year's reduced capital outlay funding was "a real lesson in economics," according to McCoy, and that's not likely to change anytime soon.