Courtesy imageOver the past 18 months, we’ve worked with hundreds of people in our town to inform the decision making process that resulted in the upcoming bond election. We love Los Alamos and want to see it improve in ways that matter to the people who live here. We think the bond package resonates with many people for two key reasons: The process to get to this point has been incredibly inclusive and deliberative; and the projects included in the bond package are focused on tremendous opportunities, offering either direct or indirect benefits to everyone in our community.
We’ve provided information about the proposed projects over the past few weeks and have heard a lot of feedback. The vast majority of this feedback has been extraordinarily positive, giving us hope that our community will vote yes and agree to invest in itself through the Rec Bond, but we would like to address some of the concerns that have been raised.
There are several issues that are not questioned by most people. Most people seem to agree that our community will benefit from these recreation upgrades. Most people recognize that other local governments already provide these amenities to their citizens; and just as local governments provide libraries and parks, recreation facilities are perfectly appropriate and necessary ways for local government to improve quality of life.
The main questions we’re hearing have to do with whether people in Los Alamos County should spend their money on providing these recreation amenities to local residents.
Here are the key questions we’re hearing:
Q: Shouldn’t all county money go to roads and other essential infrastructure?
A: The short answer is that most of the available county money HAS gone to roads and other county infrastructure. That’s a main reason why our recreation facilities are either non-existent or in poor repair. The County has spent almost 90% of its capital improvement funds over the past 10 years on roads and county equipment and facilities. Only 3% of capital improvement funds have gone to recreation facilities. It’s time to fix that imbalance.
County roads are routinely evaluated by the County’s Public Works team, and the vast majority of county roads are in good to great shape. The roads that do need help already have funding approved in the county budget for repairs. Some of these roads will be repaired this summer, like the Cumbres del Sol subdivision on North Mesa. In April of this year, the County Council approved a road reconstruction budget to invest over $18.4 million in county roads over the next 5 years.
Other roads that need repair are not under County jurisdiction. Roads like Trinity Drive, NM 502, NM 4 and others are under State, DOE or USFS jurisdiction. The County works with these entities to encourage improvements but does not have authority or responsibility to fix them.
Q: Why didn’t the County Council give voters the option to vote on each project independently?
A: We can’t speak for the County Council but we can tell you that the County Council listened to the public over 14 months and evaluated more than 20 projects before determining which projects to forward in this bond election. After many months of public discussion and an evaluation of costs, the project list was narrowed down to the 5 projects included in the bond election.
Citizens who participated in this process supported going with a package approach because it moves many recreation user groups ahead; and offers more benefits to the community now rather than spending the next several decades trying to complete individual projects. This has been a collaborative, cooperative approach, and we’re proud of the generous coalition that has formed around this idea. The package will support Laboratory hiring and retention. It will also encourage families to buy homes in Los Alamos by showing prospective and current employees that our community has amenities that are competitive with neighboring towns. The package will support local businesses by keeping existing residents in town and bring more people to downtown areas. Most importantly, the package benefits today’s residents, and these are amenities that are long overdue.
This package approach is more attractive and impactful than doing these projects one at a time over a very long time. With this approach, our community can use bond financing the way it’s intended to be used – to leverage community funds for investment in order to broadly benefit our entire community.
Q: Why doesn’t the County put this money into housing?
A: There’s no doubt that housing in Los Alamos needs to improve. While our county government is restricted in its support for housing programs due to the State’s Anti-Donation Law, there are a number of things the County is doing right now to improve housing. In fact, the County has more going on right now to encourage improved housing than at any other time in recent history.
The County recently issued RFPs for a number of land parcels expressly to encourage development of hundreds of new homes. The County Council approved fiscal year 2018’s county budget with millions of dollars designated to improve these parcels so a developer can build on them. A housing rehabilitation program last year was launched to help homeowners make needed improvements to existing homes. This year, the County is offering a new program to help qualifying homebuyers with down payment loans; in order to encourage people who work here and contribute to our community to also have the opportunity to live here.
There’s a lot going on right now to address housing. Housing needs are not being ignored or sacrificed because of this bond election.
Q: Aren’t my taxes too high now?
A: This is a subjective question that each person has to decide for themselves. We can tell you that Los Alamos County taxes are average for New Mexico counties; and New Mexico has low property taxes compared to most other States.
Ultimately, a community should have the kind of amenities it wants and is willing to pay for. There are many towns the same size or smaller than Los Alamos that have the type of multi-use recreation centers provided by their local governments. Taos (population about 5,800); Breckenridge, Colo. (about 4,600); and Durango, Colo. (about 17,000) are just a few examples of communities that our residents visit with similar facilities.
Q: The Lab Contract brings too much uncertainty to the County’s future GRT so we shouldn’t approve this bond now?
A: The Laboratory and its contract are hugely important to our community. Yes, the Lab’s contract is up for bid in the near future; however, the new contract will be awarded well before construction subcontract commitments are made for the larger projects.
It’s against federal procurement law for DOE to suggest that the Lab contract is going either non-profit or for-profit. They will put the contract out for anyone interested in bidding. However, DOE has told local governments in northern New Mexico to watch the Sandia contract to see how the Lab’s contract is likely to go. The Sandia contract was recently awarded to a for-profit entity. If that pattern holds here, Los Alamos County will continue to be in very healthy fiscal shape. https://www.abqjournal.com/910533/sandia-national-laboratories-contract-awarded-unm-will-play-a-role.html.
County Council and County personnel have visited federal agencies in Washington DC this year and have heard very strong support for the nuclear program and for the Laboratory. https://ladailypost.comcontent/regional-coalition-lanl-communities-picks-some-good-news-washington-dc
We won’t know for sure how the Lab contract will go until it is awarded. But every indication about the contract and about the White House’s support for the country’s nuclear program suggests that the Laboratory will be well funded going forward.
It’s important to note that if the County’s financial situation were to be seriously and negatively impacted by the new Lab contract, the County can adjust and pay off the bond early rather than build the new facilities. No one wants to see the County seriously harmed. The Council voted 7-0 this February to forward the bond election to voters. We don’t think they would have done that if there was serious concern about the impact of the Lab contract. If the worst does happen on tax receipts, there will be plenty of time to change course on the big ticket recreation bond projects. We can be sensitive to risk without being paralyzed by fear.
Q: Who is involved with the Los Alamos Future PAC that is encouraging passage of the Recreation Bond?
A: Los Alamos Future PAC is a group of Los Alamos citizens who believe that the projects proposed in the Recreation Bond election are important and needed to address deficiencies in recreation amenities in order to make Los Alamos an even better place to live and work. We are your neighbors and colleagues, homeowners, community volunteers, local business owners, and parents of kids who attend school with your children. No one involved in this PAC is benefiting personally from its activities other than as individual citizens or local business owners who want to see investment in recreation facilities.
In order to work together to advocate for this bond election, we had to become a political action committee registered with the State of New Mexico to comply with election law. We’re not lobbyists or from outside our community. Because this is a big decision for our community, we’ve worked hard to get information into the hands of the people who will make this decision. We’d hate to see this election fail because people didn’t know what they are voting for.
Thank you for considering this information as you decide how to vote. For more information about the Rec Bond, and for additional FAQ’s, please visit our website at www.losalamosfuture.com.
