County administrator gives update on railroad sale

ALAMOSA — The San Luis & Rio Grande Railroad may be a step closer to being sold, however, nothing is official according to Alamosa County Administrator Roni Wisdom.

Wisdom gave her staff update to the Alamosa Board of County Commissioners Wednesday and addressed the sale’s status.

“We understand there is a company that put in a bid and the trustee (Bill Brandt) is going to take it to the bankruptcy court,” Wisdom told the board Wednesday. “(The bid) was for the very basic price of $5.75 million.

“But that is all we really know about it.”

The company is Denver-based OmniTrax.

Commissioner Michael Yohn interjected, saying that he thought the railroad was sold on Wednesday.

Wisdom informed Yohn and the board that the sale was not, in fact, final.

“It has to go before the bankruptcy court for it to be approved,” she said.

According to Wisdom, there is a second company also interested in purchasing the railroad.

“It’s our understanding that there is another interested party and that is North Central Railcorp,” Wisdom said. “They’re going to work with the bankruptcy courts themselves and the trustee.”

Wisdom said that despite reports from other news outlets, nothing regarding the sale is official.

She also voiced her concern that whichever company buys the railroad will want the counties to “take a haircut” on the property tax for the sale to work.

She reiterated, though, that the sale was not official.

“There is concern there, but we’ve not been formally notified of anything,” Wisdom said. “So, we don’t have any information yet. It’s a continuing discussion that we’ve got.”

Luke Lyons is the managing editor of the Valley Courier. He can be reached via email at [email protected].