Las Cruces Sun-News: Mental health, affordable housing top Las Cruces’ list of 2024 capital outlay asks

LAS CRUCES — Mental health and affordable housing top Las Cruces’ list of 2024 capital outlay asks

As the 2024 New Mexico Legislative Session approaches, the City of Las Cruces began setting its priorities for capital outlay requests during a meeting on Monday.

Capital outlay is a critical funding source for infrastructure development in New Mexico. The money funds projects such as new recreation centers, park improvements, and public safety technology upgrades. This year, there’s more money to be doled out than in years past – and plenty of needs to be addressed.

During a special work session on Monday, Srijana Basnyat, a Las Cruces city planner and staff member of the city manager, said the city would again orient its asks to suit the projects that local legislators want to fund. Basnyat said the city employed this technique last year with success.

Every representative and senator of the New Mexico Legislature is given a yearly fund of money to award to brick-and-mortar projects. Legislators typically use the money on projects in their districts, but they’re not required to. The amount of money depends on the legislator’s seniority and available funds.

Basnyat said that local legislators were interested in funding projects around five areas. Those areas include:

• Affordable housing

• Active transportation (public transit plus bicycle and pedestrian safety)

• Behavioral health

• Public safety

• Sustainability

See the full article at the Las Cruces Sun-News website.