Las Cruces, DA County Send In Wishlists For Stimulus Plan

by ABC-7 Reporter/Anchor Abe Lubetkin

LAS CRUCES, N.M. — Over a billion dollars are expected to be headed to the state of New Mexico, and officials in Dona Ana County want a piece of the action.

Both the city of Las Cruces and Dona Ana County have sent in their wish lists.

In Las Cruces, city officials are asking for $167 million. The county is asking for $80 million.

The city’s requests range from road improvements to recycling programs, but the costliest proposals are for sports and recreational facilities.

Dona Ana County officials said stopping flooding in certain areas is one of their top priorities.

They also said they need those $8 million to build an arsenic treatment plant in Santa Teresa.

President Barack Obama said he hopes the stimulus creates jobs. In Dona Ana County, unemployment was at 4.9 percent in the most recent measurement a few months ago.

Las Cruces officials said if all their programs get approved they will create roughly 1,300 jobs. County officials did not have an estimate.

Students at NMSU had some different ideas about what the government should do to improve the economy.

“Just throwing money into the economy is not going to help it out. We need to repay the debts. That’s the first problem. You need to come back up to zero before you can start building on again,” said Jonathon Worst.

“I think if we’re going to invest money somewhere it should be into the housing market and helping people keep their homes, because I think one of the things that really affects the economy is how stable people are,” said Amanda Burns.

Las Cruces city officials acknowledged their $167 million proposal is ambitious. But both they and county officials said their proposals are shovel-ready, they just need the funding.