Las Cruces City Council voted unanimously to approve the issuance of up to $28.5 million in bond funding to be repaid over 20 years using revenue from the 2014 Hold Harmless GRT tax hike.
In a work session, council decided 20% of the funding will be used to increase energy efficiency of city facilities, 45% will be allocated toward road projects, and 35% will be used for business development.
Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima says spending the money now will help save money in the future.
“That allows us to basically triple the amount of money that is going to be used to invest here in the city,” Miyagishima said. “For future investments and also to be able to reduce the amount of money that we are going to have to be spending in later years if we do it now instead of having to wait so many years in the future.”
Councilor Miguel Silva says voted against the tax hike in 2014 because there wasn’t a plan for how the money would be used, however he did voted to approve the bond ordinance.
“We’ve categorized them,” Silva said. “That’s a step in the positive direction, but I would have felt much more comfortable if they had been earmarked specifically for projects prior to us passing them.”
A special meeting will be held Thursday for a final approval of the bond sale.
