Plans for the building of a new animal shelter in Las Vegas have taken an important step forward with a funding vote in the New Mexico State Legislature.
Lawmakers approved a $780,000 capital outlay request to build the city-run shelter.
In an interview with the Las Vegas Optic newspaper, Las Vegas Mayor David Romero remarked: “The animal crisis that we have in our community is a big issue.”
The current one-story shelter is located at 1680 N. Grand Avenue and is owned by the city. But the animal control aspects of the operation are handled by the San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office.
City officials have said that the existing shelter, which has at times housed as many as 60 homeless animals, is out of date and often overcrowded.
Late last year it was announced that the city planned to submit a $2 million request to plan, design, and construct a new shelter.
The $780,000 that lawmakers ultimately passed for the animal shelter project was part of a larger $5.1 million in capital outlay funding for San Miguel County that was approved for a variety of infrastructure projects.
The capital outlay package is now awaiting final approval by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham.
By Garry Boulard
