Mayor Tim Keller said he would veto the City Council’s decision to move funding from a high-profile, multi-use trail project to a planned sports complex project on the Westside after a group of Albuquerque residents pleaded with city councilors Wednesday night to reconsider.
The City Council approved the move during their Feb. 3 meeting. Councilors voted to transfer $500,000 from the ongoing Rail Trail project — a 7-mile multi-use trail that will connect the city’s historic destinations — to the planned Ken Sanchez Indoor Sports Complex.
“I hope you continue to have an open mind and consider options to backtrack that decision,” Albuquerque resident Andrew Keleher told city councilors Wednesday night. “I attended, taught at and continue to coach youth sports at St. Pius, so I am very much in favor of the Westside youth sports complex. However, the way in which this funding was secured, I believe, sets a very troubling precedent of councilors looking to other projects, other districts, to secure funding.”
Keller issued a statement after the meeting saying he would veto the bill in light of the public outcry.
“We stand with the community who are urging the City Council to restore funding to the Rail Trail, a project that’s already under construction and will be a transformative addition for the entire city,” Keller said in a statement. “I’m ready to line-item veto this unfortunate decision and work with the City Council to reinstate the funding for the Rail Trail.”
Deputy Director of Council Services Mark Motsko during Wednesday’s meeting said the funding came from a gross receipts tax bond and that the council “moved some interest within a GRT bond, so we bonded against our gross receipts tax income.” He also confirmed that no state funding was moved within that clean-up bill.
“We moved a half a million from the Rail Trail to Ken Sanchez Indoor Sports Complex,” Motsko said. “Then, because these are bonds and we do earn interest on those bonds, staff found that there was about $600,000 in interest that we were able to take another half million and put it into Ken Sanchez that way. Ken Sanchez Indoor Sports Complex is fully funded, and the Rail Trail, which is a multi-phased, multi-year project, is also funded for several phases.”
Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn was the only councilor to vote against the effort and said it is a “dangerous precedent to start taking funds from fellow councilors’ projects,” and she hopes to not see it again. Fiebelkorn asked Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel if she agreed that the projects are fully funded.
Sengel said the Keller administration disagrees that the council’s decision fully funds the Rail Trail project.
“We had $1.5 million for the Rail Trail from the GRT tax interest specifically because we have that project underway and we are continuing to fund that project,” Sengel said. “Removing the $500,000 from that and moving it to the Westside sports complex does reduce the current available funds for the Rail Trail.”
Councilor Dan Lewis said it’s normal to shift funding around and it’s how the council “gets multiple projects done.”
“We do this all the time,” Lewis said. “Mr. Motsko just explained exactly how both of these projects are fully funded. So whether the administration agrees with that or not, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s fully funded…I wouldn’t have voted on that if I didn’t know that these projects would be fully funded as well. I think it’s a great example of councilors working together to get projects done for the people of the city.”
Former councilor Ken Sanchez, who died in 2020 while still in office, initially presented the idea of the sports complex and Councilor Louie Sanchez continued the plan after he was elected.
“I support the rail trail 100% and I know everybody else does as well, but we’re looking at a $100 million project over many, many, many years,” Louie Sanchez said. “It’s less than 0.5%, so less than half a percentage point is going to actually get another facility built and running.”
The sports complex is planned to go between Coors Boulevard and Atrisco Drive NW, south of St. Joesphs Drive NW and is expected to include basketball and volleyball courts to host tournaments and other events.