Jim, Excellent Reporting. And More on State Appropriations

Jim, we all owe you a vote of thanks for your straightforwad and objective report on last Thursday's C&TSRR Commission meeting. Your notes largely track with mine.

I'd just like to clarify and expand upon the pending NM appropriations requests for FY011 because the NM lobbyist was clear as mud. Due to a quirk in the way operating appropriations requests for the Commission are handled the real amount is somewhere between $90,000 and $95,000 (has been $100,000 in the past). However, that request is buried in the $3.75 to 3.82 million figure that is an estimate of the total operating revenues expected for the C&TS, which include the projected ticket revenues (probably around $2.85 to $2.9 million). Just a screwy misleading method of presentation.

You are correct that the C&TS is also requesting from NM $1 million for track upgrades and $100,000 for seed money for the Railroad Visitor Center in Chama. These are Capital Outlay requests (not operating requests) and are usually not determined until the last day of the legislative session, Feb. 18.

So, in addition to the NM requests Colorado is likely to provide operating appropriations of $90,000 to $100,000 (as before). The most interesting new development is that Colorado may also pitch in $1 million of Federal stimulus money. The legislative session in Colorado doesn't end until around May 7 so stay tuned.