Symposium on public banking planned today as city explores feasibility Mayor Javier Gonzales says that while he was on the campaign trail, an old friend told him about a local movement to create a public bank. Gonzales had already heard about a public bank in North Dakota but hadn’t given much thought to one in Santa Fe or even New Mexico. “As I got more into the campaign and learned the stories and the challenges of Santa Fe and recognized that access to capital and new funding sources were limited, the idea of a public bank became more and more important to me,” he said Friday. If he was elected mayor, Gonzales told himself back then, he would explore the idea further. Fast-forward six months after the election. The city is weeks away from choosing a consultant to study the feasibility of a public bank in Santa Fe, and on Saturday, the city will host a public banking symposium at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center downtown. Speakers include Gwendolyn Hallsmith, executive director of the Public Banking Institute, and Thomas Keidel, financial market relations director for the German Savings Banks Association. “This weekend is really going to be about inviting the citizens to come alongside their government to learn about public banking and what it means,” Gonzales said during a news conference at City Hall. Craig Barnes, founder of WeArePeopleHere, which organized the symposium, said public banks are not new, but the concept is in Santa Fe. “To bring it into our community where it hasn’t been talked about is a huge deal,” said Barnes, who has been promoting the concept and pitched the idea to Gonzales on the campaign trail. Gonzales said access to capital is critical to “regrowing our middle class.” He said one of the “biggest tragedies” from the recession was the impact on small businesses that resulted from tighter credit limits that the federal government imposed on banks. “In fact, when you look at the largest banks, I believe the data suggests that there’s 53 percent less lending taking place to small businesses,” he said. In addition to problems that businesses are facing, the city is dealing with its own challenges, from lack of broadband technology to early childhood development programs, he said. “All those investments have to come from nontraditional sources,” Gonzales said. “Here at the city, we’re highly capped or maxed on our gross receipts taxes. We purposely try to keep property taxes low as best we can … because we don’t want to have the residents to have to bear the burden of more government.” Gonzales said a public bank may not be the answer, but it’s a concept worth exploring. He reiterated that the city will take a “slow, methodical approach” to determining the feasibility of a public bank. “We are not going to rush into anything, but we are going to move forward in learning and being serious about understanding how to develop a bank in Santa Fe and being honest about whether we can truly pull it off or not,” he said. “That remains to be seen.” Contact Daniel J. Chacón at 986-3089 or dchacon@sfnewmexican. Follow him on Twitter at @danieljchacon.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 22:46:02 +0000
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