Mayor vetoes measure that would reallocate funding from the Rail Trail

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller vetoed a City Council vote Thursday that would redirect 1.5% of the funding for an urban trail to a sports complex.

The Rail Trail is a seven-mile urban trail the city broke ground on last August and has been allocated nearly $40 million.

Councilors on Feb. 3 voted 8-1 on an amendment to reallocate $500,000 from the project to be used for the Ken Sanchez sports complex on the West Side.

“It’s really important that the mayor stand up for this project. We need to have money in hand to start construction,” said Terry Brunner, Keller’s chief of staff and director of the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency, which is overseeing the project. “We can’t come to the table with money that hasn’t materialized yet. That makes funding a construction project pretty difficult.”

The City Council would need a 6-3 vote to overturn the mayor’s veto and Keller acknowledged that with the support on the amendment, it was possible his veto could be overturned.

“We would have to get really creative and find money in a source we haven’t found it in yet. So it would put us in a difficult spot,” Brunner said of a possible veto override.

Councilor Louie Sanchez — who introduced the vetoed amendment — declined to comment about the veto Thursday. Council President Brook Bassan did not respond to a request for comment.

The Rail Trail was designed by New Mexico-based architect Antoine Predock, who died in March, shortly after finishing the design. The project broke ground in August, starting at the Sawmill corridor and is expected to be completed in 2028.

Brunner said the reallocation of funds would stall the construction of a pedestrian ramp that would cross Central. “The mayor wants to show through his veto that he’s 100% committed to getting the Rail Trail done and done as quickly as possible,” Brunner said.

Councilor Dan Lewis, a vocal critic of the Keller administration, said, “The mayor seems to have forgotten that the council approves the budget and spending.”

“This is nothing but misinformation from the mayor’s office. Both of these projects are funded by the council,” he said.

While blocking the council amendment, Keller said he is seeking a middle ground to get state funding instead for the sports complex.

“We’ve been working with the council, and I think they’re coming around to the fact that there’s just a better way to do all this funding, including working with folks in the Roundhouse and get some capital outlay,” Keller told the Journal in an interview Thursday.

The council’s aim to reallocate funding isn’t the only hiccup the project could face. More than $14 million of the project’s funding is federal and was secured during President Joe Biden’s administration. In his first few weeks in office, President Donald Trump has slashed and frozen federal spending.

“We don’t see any reason for impact to those funds, but I know there’s just so much uncertainty right now with D.C.,” Keller said.

Concerned that the federal grant environment is changing and the funds might be less accessible, Brunner said, “We’re really working hard to get them in hand as quickly as possible.”

The Rail Trail is estimated to cost anywhere from $60 million to $90 million in total.