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Las Cruces council hears Tel Shore Fund review; members back keeping corpus and hiring financial adviser
Summary
City staff told council the Tel Shore Fund’s investment balance is about $53 million; councilors favored keeping a $28 million corpus, selling only as needed for liquidity, and agreed to retain a financial advisor to evaluate long-term strategy and allocations.
City staff presented a detailed review of the Tel Shore Fund to the City Council on July 13 and sought direction on how to balance investment returns with the city’s need for cash to pay planned projects.
Leslie Doyle said the Tel Shore Fund’s investment balance in fiscal year 2026 is roughly $53,000,000 and that a significant portion remains invested with the New Mexico State Investment Council (NMSIC). "The fund is not liquid," Doyle said, and asked whether the council preferred to keep investments with the state, withdraw the entire corpus for local management, or sell holdings as needed to meet cash requirements.
Natalie Green described how the fund has been used: purchases and pre-commitments for affordable housing projects, one-time gap funding for facilities, and health-related public services. Green said $11.4 million has been disbursed from the Tel Shore Fund for affordable housing commitments and that those commitments helped leverage about $170 million in outside investment, producing hundreds of housing units.
Councilors questioned sustainability of recent high investment returns and various spending priorities. Councilor Curran said double-digit returns are unlikely to continue and recommended selling only what is necessary for liquidity and retaining adviser expertise. Councilor Matisse and others urged preserving the corpus at about $28,000,000 so annual nonprofit allocations (currently $600,000) could continue. Councilor Cook pushed for targeted uses that meet immediate community needs, such as cooling stations and neighborhood catalysts.
By the end of discussion, staff characterized council direction as threefold: hire a financial advisor to evaluate the fund and allocation options; keep as much as practical with the state investment council while selling investments as needed to generate liquidity; and preserve the corpus to maintain annual nonprofit allocations. Staff said they will return with analysis and proposals after consulting a financial adviser.
No formal ordinance or binding vote was taken; the council’s comments were recorded as direction to staff and next steps.
Votes at the end of the session covered adjournment only; no formal action on Tel Shore Fund allocations occurred during this meeting.
