Bill that could create funding tool for fairground redevelopment passes first committee

A bill introducing a new financial tool to fund the possible redevelopment of the State Fairgrounds in Albuquerque has passed its first committee.

The legislation sponsored by Senate President Pro Tem Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, passed through the Senate Tax, Business and Transportation Committee on a 6-3 vote Tuesday and is now slated to go in front of the Senate Finance Committee.

The bill, Senate Bill 481, would establish the current fairgrounds location just off Albuquerque’s Central Avenue and any additional land nearby the state acquires as the “State Fairgrounds District Fund.”

The State Fair has taken place at Expo New Mexico since 1938, but in December, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced a plan to flip the fairgrounds into a mixed-use development.

“This has the potential to really change a section of our city, very close to my district, that’s been troubled for a long time,” Sen. Natalie Figueroa, D-Albuquerque, said Tuesday during committee.

Figueroa was joined by the other four committee Democrats present Tuesday — Sen. Debbie O’Malley, D-Albuquerque, was not in attendance — and Sen. Gabriel Ramos, R-Silver City, in voting in favor of advancing the bill.

The tax committee’s other three Republicans — Sens. Nicholas Paul of Alamogordo, Joshua Sanchez of Bosque and William Sharer of Farmington — opposed the bill.

In addition to classifying the area as a state district fund, the bill also creates a board to make financial decisions, including the ability to issue revenue bonds of up to $1 billion.

But Sharer said the bill does not provide enough oversight for financial decisions.

“If we’re looking for fraud, waste and abuse, this is where I would start looking,” Sharer said.

The bill passes at a time when another proposed tool to fund the redevelopment of the fairgrounds is in limbo.

Bernalillo County commissioners at the request of the state voted back in January to pass a resolution to establish a Tax Increment Development District, or TIDD, at the site of the fairgrounds and take a vote on it Tuesday — the same day the proposed legislation went in front of lawmakers in Santa Fe.

But a contentious public meeting followed that resolution in February, where residents expressed opposition to moving the State Fair, and county leadership pointed the finger at the state for canceling a $500,000 request for proposal to redevelop the area hours before the meeting.

On Friday, Bernalillo County announced it would not be taking a vote to establish a TIDD on Tuesday after all.

“The county awaits a master plan from the State of New Mexico for public infrastructure for the 236-acre State Fairgrounds before proceeding,” county spokesperson Randy Harrison said in a statement. “Once the master plan is completed, the Board of County Commissioners retains the option to present and approve a TIDD.”

Harrison also said that the state would no longer pursue Senate Bill 482, a bill that would’ve created the joint TIDD between the county and state that could’ve authorized up to $1 billion in bonds.