On the Albuquerque bond measures

Early voting is now going on here in Albuquerque for City Council, red light cameras, and a slew of bond measures. Find out where to vote here. Find more information on the election here (including sample ballots).

My old Councilor, Michael Cadigan, had a very interesting opinion piece in today’s Albuquerque Journal in which he made a persuasive case against Tax Bond 12 which would allocate $25 million to a sportsplex and $25 million to the Paseo/I-25 interchange. I agree with Cadigan that Paseo and I-25 should be the number one priority for any current and future infrastructure spending and think it is a bad idea to place the Interchange and the sportsplex on the same question. I also found the history of the various sportsplexes to be interesting and concerning.

While I appreciate Mayor Berry’s attempts to create amenities for the City, we have long stressed that government should focus on the basics. It does not appear that a sportsplex would rise to the level of something that taxpayers should be forced to pay for (all taxation is force).

And, how about those other bond measures? Sure, they are all “mom and apple pie” things like community centers and libraries, but just know that each of them authorize the government to take on additional debt that is ultimately paid for by you, the taxpayer. Each bond that fails means more money in your pockets.