City extends contract with fiscal agent to access 2024 capital outlay

Nov. 18—The city of Santa Fe has extended its contract with a fiscal agent to continue gaining access to millions of dollars in state capital outlay for planned infrastructure projects.

City councilors voted unanimously at a meeting last week to include 22 legislative appropriations from the 2024 session in its deal with the North Central New Mexico Economic Development District, an association of local government entities and other organizations. The council also approved the use of some of the state funds for two projects: $5 million for improvements at Fort Marcy Park and $240,000 for the design of a new pedestrian bridge across the Santa Fe River at Shelby Street.

The city entered into a fiscal agency agreement with the association in 2023 at the request of the state Department of Finance and Administration following a series of missed deadlines for annual financial audits.

The city initially approved a contract with the economic development district in December 2023 for capital outlay from 2021 and earlier this year extended the contract to include 2022 and 2023 dollars.

How long the city will be required to work with the fiscal agent is at the discretion of the Department of Finance and Administration, even though it is now up to date on its audits.

The city submitted its last overdue audit in May and is on track to submit the audit for fiscal year 2024 by the deadline of Dec. 15, city Finance Director Emily Oster said Monday.

“It remains our top priority in the Finance Department,” Oster said.

Submitting an on-time audit — and hopefully having fewer audit findings than in the previous year — will be important in demonstrating to the state agency the city is back on track, she said.

“Getting an audit in on time will have a lot of significance,” she said.

Oster said the economic development district has been “great to work with.” The main reason the city wants to be able to once again access its own appropriations is financial: As part of the contract, the city pays the fiscal agent a fee of 1% of the dollar amount it spends toward each state-funded project.

“It’s an additional cost that we have to pay, and we would rather be dedicating those funds to other needs that the city has,” Oster said, noting the deal also makes the process slightly slower by adding another step.

The city received a total of about $18.9 million in capital outlay appropriations during the 2024 session, including $1.6 million for the wastewater treatment plant on Paseo Real, $3.4 million for an expansion of the Municipal Recreation Complex’s Soccer Valley and $2 million for the Santa Fe Regional Airport.

The funding for improvements to Fort Marcy Park was not on the city’s lists of requests but was appropriated by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who secured $5 million for beautification of the home of the Fuego baseball team and the annual burning of Zozobra.

“She really felt that was a priority she wanted to put her personal mark on, and I appreciate it,” Mayor Alan Webber said after the session ended.

The project will be handled by the city Parks and Open Space Division, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler said. Specific work has not yet been planned but will likely include significant infrastructure upgrades.

“We’re really looking at upgrading the restrooms, the concession stands, all the accesses and walkways, and upgrading them and making them ADA compliant,” she said, referring to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Wheeler said the design phase, which will include a public engagement process to solicit input on what improvements people would most like to see, will likely take about a year. Future legislative sessions may include additional funding for construction.

“We are in communication with the state about the plan for Fort Marcy,” Wheeler said.

The design process for the Shelby Street bridge will likely have a shorter timeline but will require a historic design review. The current bridge has been closed by the city after it was determined to be unsafe due to degradation of its concrete foundation.

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