Homes and rubble remain interspersed between trees burned in the South Fork fires on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Danielle Prokop / Source NM)
A state agency has awarded $70 million in zero-interest loans to local governments in and around Ruidoso, cutting checks that the New Mexico Legislature authorized during a special legislative session in July.
The loans are to help public entities like the Village of Ruidoso stay afloat as they pay millions of dollars to rebuild from a natural disaster that began with the South Fork and Salt fires. The fires began in mid-June, and destruction continues today with flash floods.
According to a news release Wednesday from the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration, $36 million is going to Lincoln County to repair road and bridge damages in the Cedar Creek and Gavilan Canyon areas.
The state will also give $44 million to the Village of Ruidoso for road and bridge repairs in the Upper Canyon area.
Flash floods poised to continue in disaster areas through monsoon season
Ruidoso Mayor Lynn Crawford said $22 million had already been deposited in the village’s bank account on Tuesday morning. He was concerned it would take three more months or longer to see the money, so he was pleased that it came so quickly.
“It came at a great time,” he said.
The bills for Ruidoso Village are piling up, the mayor said, as it works to dig out and prevent future damage floods.
Ruidoso Village has two contracts worth $70 million for watershed restoration and infrastructure repair, Crawford said, and expenses keep accruing. A recent estimate he saw of costs for the village alone was $81 million, though calculations are ongoing and “numbers are being compiled constantly,” he said.
The South Fork and Salt fires burned about 25,000 acres and destroyed or badly damaged more than 1,100 homes, including about 230 lost in post-fire flooding.
The disaster loans were included in a lone piece of legislation New Mexico lawmakers passed during a special session in mid-July. The loans were granted to get money quickly to disaster-stricken areas to cover expenses while they wait for reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Public Assistance program.
State lawmakers passed a similar measure following the Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon Fire in April 2022.It took more than a year, in some cases, for local governments like Mora County to receive the loan funds after that fire.
This time around, it took less than two months. Awards for loans were announced 50 days between when Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the bill in late July to Wednesday.
“(Department of Finance Authority) got this money out the door so it can be put to use as the community rebuilds and recovers from the fires,” secretary Wayne Propst said in a news release. “We treated this with the utmost urgency and completed the process as quickly as possible.
In addition to the $70 million in loans, lawmakers included $30 million in grants for agencies and governments involved in the recovery, including $10 million apiece for the Mescalero Apache Reservation, the state Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management and the state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.