Santa Fe Finance Director Feels Fine About NMFA Loan

Santa Fe city officials appear relatively confident there won’t be any hitches in a $3.6 million loan the city hopes to obtain from the Finance Authority to buy part of the Market Station complex at the Santa Fe Railyard.

City Finance Director Mel Morgan told the Santa Fe City Council Wednesday he’s in touch almost daily with agency officials and “we are led to believe there is no issue with our loan.”

The Finance Authority is scheduled to vote on the loan next month.

If the agency’s bond rating is lowered, it’s possible the city’s interest rate on the loan will be higher than expected, Morgan said. However, Morgan added that he used larger-than- anticipated interest rate numbers when making loan calculations, so an actual higher interest rate shouldn’t have much of an impact on the city’s financial plans.

If the loan falls through, the city will make the Railyard purchase with money from its general fund money and re-pay itself with cash now used to rent office space in the Joseph Montoya federal building. The city plans to vacate the Montoya building in favor of the Railyard.

Santa Fe currently has Finance Authority loans on the Santa Fe Community Convention Center and former College of Santa Fe Campus, as well as a number of smaller ventures.