NMFA outlines technical assistance pilot and regionalization plan for small water systems

Marquita Russell, chief executive officer of the New Mexico Finance Authority, told the oversight committee the agency's technical assistance pilot (TAP) aims to clear planning backlogs that delay water projects for small systems.

"By us already hiring the engineer, and being able to oversee these projects, with a professional eye, someone who does this full time, we think that it's going to speed their ability significantly," Russell said, describing the pilot's use of 12 on-call contractors including engineers, GIS specialists, accountants and community facilitators.

Russell said NMFA received 51 TAP applications, expects roughly $8,000,000 in awards for the pilot and expects the pilot to facilitate regionalization: 90 entities are expected to consolidate down to 17 regional projects, which NMFA estimates will reduce about 73 individual water systems. The Penasco area was cited as an example in which nine mutual domestic systems are expected to join under a single succeeding entity.

Committee members asked how NMFA will measure success. Russell said the authority will track how long documents take to complete, whether planning grants and design awards speed applications to the Water Trust Board and whether the program saves money compared with communities procuring services themselves. She also said NMFA will require compliance checks and provide annual reporting as appropriate.

Why it matters: Many small systems lack procurement capacity and volunteer boards struggle to manage technical procurement; TAP is designed to reduce multi-year delays that drive up costs or risk system failures, members said.

Next steps: NMFA will report interim monitoring metrics and evaluation results to the oversight committee, and will assess whether another state agency should permanently host technical assistance if demand outgrows NMFA capacity.