Sources of Funding & Cost Control
CURRENT COST ESTIMATIONS FOR NDB AQUATIC CENTER
The Aquatic Center (Design Plan C - which is the only design that meets the City's most pressing needs) is roughly estimated to be about $32,000,000. (This number will keep rising the longer this takes to get funded.) Inflation rates and current global supply chain challenges (and the increased costs this brings) could easily move this number up quickly. Since the Aquatic Center is still VERY underfunded (as of Nov. 15, 2021, it's 1/3 funded by committed funds) and not yet receiving sufficient priority and focus from city, county and state authorities, our Citizen group is actively working to raise awareness and ask for faster, more prioritized support and funding. What we don't want to see is this project drag on for 5+ more years and continue to remain out of reach for Albuquerque's citizens.
CURRENT FUNDING STATUS FOR NDB AQUATIC CENTER
(As of 1/12/22: $12,874,480)
CITY
(Dec. 2021 UPDATE: This FAILED.) Will City Councilors Benson, Gibson & Davis approve the Bill that would give $12M toward the Aquatic Center, plus millions toward amazing projects Citywide? Or will they cause it to fail?
(12/5/21) On Monday, 12/06/21, Albuquerque City Councilors have a RARE opportunity to make a massive difference for the entire City of Albuquerque. Ordinance #O-21-84 goes to vote before City Council. Should this Ordinance pass, $12 million (sourced from a refinanced bond/refinanced at a lower rate) would go toward the North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center. Additionally, the funds allocated per the Ordinance would benefit long-desired projects Citywide. Most of the City Councilors are in FAVOR of this bond and have been involved in shaping the projects included in it.
However, there are THREE HOLDOUTS: Councilors Benton, Gibson, and Davis. All three have not yet been willing to negotiate for their own districts and have resisted a dialogue about this Ordinance. It's an unfortunate situation if these three Councilors cause this bill to fail. It's time for Albuquerque to move forward on things - NOT drag our feet and keep the city stuck in yesteryear. Learn more about all this HERE.
(11/15/21) City Councilor, Brook Bassan (District 4), has proposed an Ordinance/Council Bill No. O-21-84. This proposal includes a $12 million allocation for the Aquatic Center, as well as funding for significant projects in other areas of the City that address needs with parks/recreation, fighting crime, homelessness, and more. City Councilors in ALL districts need to be encouraged to support this #ONEABQ proposal as it includes solid projects that will benefit all districts. Councilors MUST hear from citizens by Friday, 12/3/21. You can find your Councilor HERE. You can also register to make a Public Comment (via Zoom) during their VOTING session on Monday, December 6, 2021. You must register by Monday morning of the meeting - and ideally on late Friday after 3:00pm (3 days before the meeting). Learn more about that HERE (and have Zoom loaded on your phone or computer for the meeting).
(11/3/21) The City's Parks & Recreation Bond PASSED!!!!! This means $3 Million from the City's Parks & Recreation bond will go toward the future Aquatic Center! (These funds will be released in 2022.) This is a great day!
(9/28/21) Click HERE to hear what Mayor Keller had to say about the pool design options and funding - start listening at the 39:13 mark. (Update on 10/3/21: The City has elected to move forward with Design Plan C. They have expressed confidence that the necessary funding can be raised. But, we do not have details on these potential sources or any timeline for this potential funding at this time.)
Funding and source information above was provided by Albuquerque City Councilor Brook Bassan's office (June 2021). (Note: The 2019 funding for the splash pad ($792,000) should've have already been reallocated to the pool. Splash pad funding ($900,000) is supposed to be coming from Mayor Keller's 2021 budget. Councilor Bassan's office will be working to correct this - which could result in the $792,000 being properly allocated to the Pool.)
2021 GO COUNCIL SET ASIDE/COUNCILOR BASSAN: Additional $500,000 (these funds get released the following years, so 2022). Every 2 years (with the bond cycles on the City ballot), City Councilors are each allocated $1M to improve their districts. In 2019, Councilor Winter (in his last intended term) gave $700k to the Pool. Councilor Bassan has allocated $500k (1/2 of her district budget) - reserving the rest for streets, public safety, and other park projects in the district.
APS - Albuquerque Public Schools
APS Special All-Mail Ballot Mill Levy & Levy Bond Capital Election November 2021.pdf11/3/21 UPDATE: THIS FUNDING PASSED!!!!!!! This means $2 Million from APS' Mill Levy Question will go toward the future Aquatic Center.
POTENTIAL FUNDING: APS has offered $2 million toward the Aquatic Center IF.....
(Yes...we were hoping for much more than that given the heavy usage we anticipate by APS swimmers) This funding will happen IF and only IF voters support their initiatives on the upcoming November 2, 2021 ballot. We are awaiting confirmation on if their Aquatic Center contribution would come from their G.O. (General Obligation) Bond or their Mill Levy ballot option. We will update this section once we know more.
A common question we hear is: Will this raise my taxes? The answer is: NO. It will not raise your taxes. It will just allocate the funds from collected taxes to the projects named in the APS flyer below.
COUNTY
District 4 Bernalillo County Commissioner, Walt Benson, contributed $1,000,000 to the North Domingo Baca Aquatic Project. His September 28, 2021 contribution, which should be officially released in December 2021, gets this project a little closer to being fully funded and we are grateful.
Additionally, our group has asked Councilor Bassan to investigate getting a request for more funding on the 2022 Bernalillo County Bond Ballot.
Here's is what was shared in a recent North Albuquerque Acres Neighborhood Association meeting:
"Swimming Pools: On September 28, 2021, the BCC approved $1million to go towards the North Domingo Baca Community Center Olympic Pool Construction Project. The funds should be moved into the correct cost center and be ready to be distributed by December 2021. Currently, the closest indoor pool to NAA is at Sandia High School on Pennsylvania and Candelaria. The only other public Olympic Sized Pool is at West Mesas High School in Southwest Albuquerque which takes over 30 minutes to get to from NAA during light traffic. This pool will be a convenient place for exercise, large swimming competitions, and general recreation. In addition to the Indoor Olympic Pool, Bernalillo County will be using Grant funds to build an outdoor pool located at Raymond G. Community Center on 4th Street NW. There has not been a pool at this location for over 10 years. Construction will start 2023 and be open to the public by Summer of 2024. "
STATE
The 2022 New Mexico State Legislative Session is now complete. $0 was contributed by the Governor. However, approximately $4 million was contributed to the project by 22 legislators across a wide region, and across both sides of the aisle. There is BROAD, bipartisan support for this project. Stay tuned for the contribution amounts and who did/did not contribute.
2021 State Grant Agreement (from Sen. Moore, Rep. Matthews, Rep. Rehm): $2,740,000 (Notes: These funds are not yet released. The City must go through a process for releasing these funds. As long as this happens, these funds are secured. If anyone is familiar with this "releasing process", please let us know.)
As an added note, Rep. Marian Matthews has been working closely with a member of our Citizen group to increase awareness of and find additional funding for the North Domingo Baca Aquatic Center project. (We will update this section as more information becomes officially available.)
FUTURE POTENTIAL FUNDING FOR NDB AQUATIC CENTER
Mayor Keller's Office: (No funding has been specifically offered for the Aquatic Center and Plan C design. However, $700,000 has been dedicated to building a splash pad in another part of the park.)
Albuquerque Public Schools: As of late September 2021, the APS Board approved the addition of adding $2 million to the APS funds request on the November 2 ballot. Now it will be up to voters to decide if this will pass.
(As of 8/18/21, a $2 million bond has been proposed by APS' Capital Improvement committee. This proposal now moves to the APS Board for approval. The APS Board, according to what we've heard, will vote on this on 8/25/21. If this bond proposal is approved by the APS Board, our understanding is that it will then be turned over to Albuquerque voters on the November 3, 2021 ballot.)
(As of 8/25/21, the APS Board approved the addition of the $2 million to their Mill Levy and Bond. This amount will be wrapped into their total ask on the November 2, 2021 ballot.)
County: (none known and/or confirmed)
State: (none known and/or confirmed for 2022 Legislative session, 2021 funding is outlined above)
Private Sector: (none known and/or confirmed)
HOW OTHER ALBUQUERQUE LOCATIONS AND NEW MEXICO CITIES SECURED FUNDING FOR THEIR POOLS
North Valley Swimming Pool: 2020 County bond funding
Northwest Albuquerque (Cibola Loop Complex): Background on the Cibola Loop project. See page possible state funding for this project on page 7 of this document: NM's "Capital Infrastructure Improvement Plan FY 2022-26" (Side comment from one of our Citizen group members: "All of the project details are manually entered by city staff and since the majority of the projects aren't designed yet they are not aware of the actual costs or phasing and they guess on most of the amounts. So the priority ranking is much more important than the funding amounts or other details. But the main takeaways are one, that this project has made it to the ICIP which took a pretty lengthy process involving several higher level decision makers and two, that this allows the City to be eligible to use certain state/federal grant programs to fund this project (capital outlay through NM legislature primarily for this type of project). "
Las Cruces: This is how Las" Cruces secured much of the funding for their Aquatic Center in 2018