sa国际传媒官网网页入口

In March 2023, during my tenure as a senator in the New Mexico Legislature, I earmarked $600,000 in capital outlay funds to the city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 for the explicit purpose of hiring a consultant to study the financing and location of a Downtown multipurpose arena.

Instead of using the above-mentioned funds as appropriated, Mayor Tim Keller directed the $600,000 to the site of a proposed soccer stadium (not a multipurpose arena) at Balloon Fiesta Park in far northern sa国际传媒官网网页入口 鈥� $556,056 for an electric utility site plan and $43,948 for a traffic study.

Keller took this action without contacting me to either thank me for the funding or to discuss any specifics as to how the money was to be expended. Over the past five years the Journal has published three op-eds in which I have spelled out the need for a Downtown multipurpose arena. I am well aware of what such a facility can do for a Downtown, since as the city manager of Moline, Illinois, I was an ex-officio member of the Quad Cities Civic Center Authority which planned and constructed a multipurpose arena in downtown Moline on land donated by Deere & Company and bordered by the Mississippi River.

Keller鈥檚 use of the $600,000 in capital outlay funds for the soccer stadium is a flagrant violation of the law since the capital outlay funds were not used for their intended purpose. After learning about Keller鈥檚 misappropriation of the capital outlay funds, I initiated legal action in late November 2024. The city of sa国际传媒官网网页入口 dragged its feet in responding to the Inspection of Public Records Act request during early 2025.

As a result, I took additional legal action to cease this delay by the city. Keller filed a motion to dismiss the case in late spring; on Sept. 23, a judge ruled against him, failing to grant the motion to dismiss. The next step is to depose the mayor.

As mentioned above, Keller directed that my capital outlay funding be appropriated for a soccer stadium to be constructed at the Balloon Fiesta Park, however, according to reliable sources, the stadium is now being planned for the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. In other words, the funds were expended at a site-specific location that is no longer under consideration.

The situation described above would have been much less likely to have occurred if the state had a more professorial, rational and common sense system of decision-making for capital outlay expenditures. Annually the governor, the House and the Senate members each receive one-third of the capital outlay dollars to propose projects in their districts or to choose projects submitted by constituents. One of the many issues is there is no prioritizing or vetting of projects, which sometimes results in certain projects being completed that would not have been funded had there been a vetting process. All 42 senators and 70 representatives have sole discretion in deciding what projects to sponsor. It is like having 112 planning agencies.

I know of no other state that employs this process. The vast majority of states have a committee made up of legislators, department heads and people with expertise in public finance, construction, civil engineering and architecture who prioritize and vet projects on a statewide basis.

When I complained to one of my favorite senators about this sub-par process, she would tell me, 鈥淏ill, they are never going to change.鈥�

Bill Tallman served in the New Mexico Senate from 2017 to 2025. He also served as a city and county administrator for over 35 years.