The biggest dam blocking a solution to Bend’s Mirror Pond problem is money. The Oregon Legislature should help.

The money the power creation generates at the dam on the Deschutes River isn’t enough for Pacific Power to want to keep it.

The money needed to move Pacific Power’s transfer station away from the dam could easily top $10 million.

There will be money needed to create the proposed rock riffle dam to replace the existing one.

There will be money needed for other things, too — dredging the pond, fixing up the powerhouse and more.

And nobody seems to have reasonable estimates yet for what it all might add up to. It will likely make the $9 million budget for the work on the Colorado Dam look relatively small.

The city of Bend and the Bend Park & Recreation District don’t have that kind of money idling away in some account.

Don Horton, the executive director of the district who has helped lead the Mirror Pond redevelopment, has said the idea would be to sell or lease the land near the dam to help pay for the project. A urban-renewal district might be created to capture property tax revenues to provide additional funding.

But it’s going to be difficult to get the project moving without some seed money. That’s where we urge the Legislature to back the proposal from state Rep. Knute Buehler, R-Bend, for the state to kick in $5 million.

It’s not unprecedented for the state to support a development project. Just remember how the state backed $200 million in bonds for Oregon Health & Science University. And the Mirror Pond project will be a benefit to the environment. It will restore the Deschutes River to a more natural flow. It will also increase density in Bend.

The Legislature should support it.