After $75 million, it's too late to back out of water project

Curry County commissioners decided last week to withdraw from the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority.

Of course it’s complicated, but mostly it feels like another example of why you can’t trust government.

Government doesn’t even trust government, based on what was said at Tuesday’s county meeting.

County Commissioner Chet Spear on Tuesday repeatedly and disrespectfully referenced David Lansford as “mayor-chairman-chairman.”

Spear’s point was that Lansford is the mayor of Clovis, the chairman of the water authority and chairman of Clovis’ water advisory policy committee. Spear’s clear suggestion was that Lansford has a lot of influence over the water project and Lansford’s allegiance lies with the city of Clovis and not the county.

That’s a fair point.

Here’s another:

Curry County is not independent of Clovis. Every resident of Clovis is also a resident of Curry County. In fact, about 75 percent of Curry County’s residents live in Clovis.

Curry County leaders seem to be saying their priority does not rest with the majority of their constituents, but with the minority, who, honestly, are not going to benefit much from a pipeline intended to provide water for city residents.

Libertarians among us would like to applaud the county’s efforts to look out for the underdogs, the less-represented among us. But it’s way too late for the county to back out of its commitment now.

President Barack Obama in 2009 made it official, signing the public lands omnibus bill authorizing our leaders’ plan to build a pipeline from a reservoir in Quay County to the Clovis-Portales area. The cost is north of $525 million.

ENMWUA Administrator Orlando Ortega said Friday it’s cost us about $75 million so far, in studies, salaries, the beginning of construction, etc.

Federal, state and local entities all agreed to help pay for the pipeline. That included Curry County, whose cost has been about $29,000 a year for the last 10 years.

Only now Curry County has decided it doesn’t want to participate anymore, and it doesn’t want to pay anymore. Which means another entity — and its taxpayers, mostly in Clovis — will be responsible for those costs.

Will the county reimburse county taxpayers $29,000 a year so they can pay the city that extra? Ha ha.

The county’s 3-2 vote — one way or the other — is probably reflective of our communities’ support for the pipeline project today, especially now that we’re talking about tax increases needed to fund the local share.

But that hardly matters. Our government leaders decided 10 years ago that we’re going to fund this project, whether we like it or not.

It’s too late to stop now. If we do, all we’ll have to show for it is a $75 million hole in our wallets. As frightening as it is to trust government to complete this project, we still need a long-term water solution that none of us can afford individually.

Eight local government entities were involved in the pipeline project when it became law. Today that number is down to four — Clovis, Portales, Texico and Elida.

So that’s 50 percent of local government entities that failed to fill their financial obligations.

Can we trust the state and federal governments, who have promised to pay 90 percent of the $525 million project costs, to complete their commitments?

Let’s hope they don’t look to Curry County for inspiration.

— David Stevens

Publisher