By Jeremy Duda | Arizona Capitol Times
A group attempting to round up enough money to save a railroad that serves as Snowflake’s economic lifeline has decided not to take a loan from the Arizona Commerce Authority over concerns and possible legal action from a conservative think tank.
The Legislature in 2013 authorized the ACA to loan up to $2 million to the Snowflake Community Foundation, a group of civic and business leaders, so it could buy the Apache Railway and keep it in business after the paper mill that owned it closed. The foundation hoped to use the ACA loan to get a $4.5 million matching loan from the Federal Railroad Administration.
But the Goldwater Institute warned that the legislation authorizing the loan may have violated the Arizona Constitution’s ban on special legislation.