Legislature dishes out dollars to area projects

By Bill Donovan
Staff writer

GALLUP — Preliminary indications are that the state legislature has been very kind this year to Gallup and McKinley County.

Although the state legislation session for this year ended Friday, because of the usual last-minute approvals, no one will know for sure exactly what was passed until Tuesday (Monday is a state holiday).

McKinley County Manager Tom Trujillo on Friday received a list of what had been approved by Friday afternoon and he pointed out that this list did not include anything on the Governor's capital outlay fund. He also said the Richardson could line veto any of these items when it comes to his office for approval.

The preliminary approval indicates funds for replacement of the Tse Bonito Bridge and for a number of area water projects, including the one for Gamerco.

Given all of that, here are the projects that have been given preliminary approval by the state legislature:

• $850,000 for completion of the Mendoza extension to provide another road to and from the Gallup High School. The county had asked for $1 million.
  
  
• $150,000 from Sen. Lidio Rainaldi for the Gallup crisis center, which will allow the center to continue operating for the next year.
  
  
• $300,000 for the east corridor for Hasler Valley Road.
  
  
• $25,000 for Sundance Road.
  
  
• $225,000 for a new Tse Bonito Bridge, which will provide funding for preliminary work on the project, including a survey and engineer's study.
  
  
• $125,000 for County Road 1.
  
  
• $100,000 for County Road 19.
  
  
• $125,000 for Cousin's Road.
  
  
• $225,000 for the Williams Acre's water project.
  
  
• $50,000 for the Thoreau waste water project.
  
  
• $100,000 for a water project at Yah-Ta-Hey.
  
  
• $450,000 for the White Cliffs water project.
  
  
• $30,000 for the Region 6 water plan. The county had asked for $80,000.
  
  
• $70,000 for renovation of the Gamerco water system.
  
  
• $995,000 for public safety buildings for McKinley County and Gallup. The county received $350,000 of that and the rest is going to the city, This is to pay for preliminary designs.
  
  
• $215,000 for the revaluation of the county juvenile detention center, as well as architectural designs for a new one.
  
  
• $300,000 for work on the arena at Red Rock Park.
  
  
• $50,000 for the Thoreau Little League.
  
  
• $65,000 for the McKinley County Bureau of Elections for new election equipment.
  
  
• $330,000 for a new Chamber of Commerce building.
  
  
• $450,000 for the area dialysis center.
  
  
• $75,000 for the Thoreau Health Center.
  
  
• $150,000 for building of bathrooms at the new city plaza.
  
  
• $125,000 for operating expenses for the Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial.
  
  
• $145,000 for the Gallup Business Incubator which helps small businesses in this area.

Trujillo said he was happy with the results, indicating that this was a little more than the county and this area had received in most years from the legislature.

"We're grateful for all of the work our area legislators have done to secure this funding," he said.