Rio Rancho wins some, loses some for all abilities park

Rio Rancho will gain about $102,000 from legislation signed today by Gov. Susana Martinez that reauthorized or reallocated capital outlay money appropriated in previous years.

House Bill 353 pulled $300,000 in not-yet-spent  funds approved in 2009 for a senior center parking lot in Valencia County and reallocated it toward a project to build a  park in Rio Rancho that will be accessible to people with disabilities.

However, about $197,000 that was reallocated to the Rio Rancho park last year from a hospital project in Truth or Consequences will go back to its previous purpose.

Rio Rancho Mayor Tom Swisstack said he was uncertain whether the money could be returned to the hospital project because the city has already encumbered those funds although work has not yet begun on the park project.

The city also received $182,926 in capital outlay funding from the legislature under House Bill 60, which the governor signed.