Sharon Thomas - Road Extension

Sharon Thomas

City Councilor Sharon Thomas issued the following comments regarding the stalled Special Assessment District process that has effectively ended the construction of a four lane thoroughfare beginning at Thurman Road and extending two miles north to Arroyo Road on North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard.

NewsNM Finding # 1. An order was placed for an expensive property appraisal which included the agreed upon properties in the SAD. The appraisal was completed and paid for. Thomas: Yes, an appraisal is necessary.

NewsNM Finding # 2. A tentative funding commitment for the entire project from the New Mexico Finance Authority was obtained. It had nothing to do with any credit rating of the City of Las Cruces Thomas: This commitment was based on the excellent credit rating that the city has. If the SAD goes to the NM Finance Authority, they will do a detailed investigation into the developer’s financial status. Many of the questions at the April work session were about that issue.

NewNM Finding # 3. The $1 million reimbursement to LCPS from the Special Assessment District continued to be contingent upon the fulfilling of all agreements reached by all parties in January.

Thomas: There is no $1M reimbursement to the LCPS. It is my understanding that such a reimbursement is not allowed by the SAD legislation. I am told that LCPS and the developer were both given this information early on. Therefore, that issue was never before the city council. Also, as stated in today’s LCSN (Las Cruces Sun-News), the school district has always been committed to paying for their portion of the road ($300,000 +) and the utility connections.

NewsNM Finding #4. At the April City Council work session, essentially all agreements were voided and the good faith efforts collapsed when it became clear that every councilor except the mayor had developed a "new" position. These new positions were clearly based on the unsigned and misleading memo distributed to councilors. The city and the developer received communication from the New Mexico State Land Office that the state land could not be included in the SAD without a very time consuming lawsuit so it was left out of the proposal which was accepted by the New Mexico Finance Authority.

LCPS Herb Torres

Thomas: The April session was an information only session. The January resolution states the following: Resolution No. 10-200: A Resolution Declaring the Intent of the City of Las Cruces, New Mexico (The "City") to Form and Implement a Special Assessment District (The "District"), to Fund Street and Utility Improvements for a Two Mile Portion of North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard and to Levy Assessments on Real Property Benefitting from the Improvements to

Pay the Costs of the Improvements and the District. Note the phrase “levy assessment on real property benefiting from the improvements.” Some of the property that will benefit was not included in the proposal.

NewsNM Finding #5. Ironically it was Herb Torres of LCPS who pointed to the fact that Las Cruces citizens will now get precisely what these councilors claimed they wanted to avoid...a temporary low grade, colonias-style, maintenance plagued road, instead of four-lane major arterial roadway at the end of North Sonoma Ranch Boulevard.

Thomas: The “temporary” road is being constructed according to city standards and when further funding is available, the other lanes and multi-modal facilities will be added. This portion of the road is not “temporary” and it will not be torn out.

NewsNM Finding #6. Worse yet, this low-grade road will not be completed in time for the opening of Monte Vista Elementary. Worst of all, LCPS will lose the entire $1 million reimbursement from the business people who were ready to finance the now dead road project.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima

John Moscato

Thomas: Once again, there is no reimbursement available. In addition, a SAD is not financed by a group of business people. It is financed by an assessment on property, a tax that will be collected from builders and/or residents when they purchase the property. It’s not money from the private sector. There are no “business people” ready to finance the road project. Also, if the developer should fail to make payments on the SAD, will the city have to foreclose on the properties and sell them and make the payments?

NewsNM Finding #7. The New Mexico Finance Authority certifies the SAD not the Las Cruces city council. They just have the city staff administer the SAD as is set in law. In every SAD the New Mexico Finance Authority provides the funding and a local entity, in this case the City of Las Cruces administers the funds locally.

Thomas: In order to protect taxpayers, we need to be absolutely certain the developer can be successful and can sell the properties and can make the SAD payments so that the rest of us do not end up with that debt. We have received many complaints about Moscato not finishing projects and leaving people with flooding problems and broken promises (no clubhouse). As fiscally responsible councilors, we need to know what Moscato’s financial situation is. Can we trust him to get the construction up and running and lots and homes selling so that there is revenue to pay back the bonds? Generally, a developer can borrow money from private sources to fund the roads in a new development.

NewsNM Finding #8. The city of Las Cruces administers the SAD locally, the New Mexico Finance Authority makes the financial decisions as to making the SAD money available.

Thomas: Why is it that Moscato needs to use the city’s credit rating and the help of the NM Finance Authority to get funding for this road? If it’s such a sure thing, then the private business entities (business people) ought to be eager to help. If the city signs on to the SAD is that like a parent co-signing with a teenage child for a car loan?

NewsNM Finding #9. There is a huge disconnect between the facts that we at NewsNM found in our interviews and the statements of Las Cruces City Councilor Sharon Thomas.

Sharon Thomas - Road Extension