Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Water and wastewater projects led Tucumcari’s annual Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP) for the years 2023 to 2027.
The city commission approved the five-year plan at its regular meeting Thursday.
Leading the list, as last year, was repairs to wastewater facilities on the east side of the city along Historic Route 66. The city hopes to fund $723,350 for the project in 2023. A total of $318,934 has been funded already, according to the ICIP document.
The next priority was repairs and upgrades to wastewater systems for which the city hopes to receive funding of $550,000 for each year from 2023 to 2027 for a total of $2.75 million.
Third on the list is infrastructure improvements at Monroe and Jackson streets, for which the city seeks $550,000 in 2023.
Fourth priority was to planning grants and asset management, for $50,000 in 2023.
Fifth was investing $1 million in street equipment, beginning with $375,000 allocated in 2023, then $250,000 in 2024 and $125,000 in each year from 2025 to 2027.
The ICIP serves as the basis for requests of capital outlay funds through the New Mexico Legislature.
The city has contracted with Clinton D. Harden and Associates, led by former state senator Clinton Harden, to lobby the legislature for capital outlay funding.
At a work session before Thursday’s regular meeting, Kathy Elliott, the public relations representative for the Harden firm, recommended the city request only one project that would be “shovel ready” and cost in the range of $350,000 to $400,000.
Martinez said funding for ICIP projects also was coming from federal American Rescue Plan funds and other sources.
After Elliott presented advice from Harden and Associates, District 5 Commissioner Todd Duplantis complained that advice the city has received over the past few years has conflicted with results from the legislature.
Duplantis noted in years when the city is advised to focus on one project, those who asked for several projects got full funding. In years when the city is advised to seek funding for several projects, he said, cities that seek only one project got funding.
The city is getting this advice from legislators, he said, “and then they renege.”
Martinez said he remained inclined to follow the advice to seek legislature funding for one project.
The commission Thursday also accepted participation in a $1 million New Mexico Department of Transportation project to make street improvements in the Barnes and Gamble Additions near First Street and Historic Route 66 in the center of the city.
The city applied for the funds earlier this year and received DOT approval.
The commission approved of a request to have the city’s $50,000 in matching funds waived.
The commission also authorized an appropriation of $388,190 from the fund to begin the project.
In other action, the commission agreed to schedule a special meeting for 4:30 p.m. Sept. 15 to discuss the city’s participation in legal action against the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department regarding distribution of gross receipts tax funds.