2020 Bond Questions

New Mexico voters in this year’s Nov. 3 general election will be asked to vote on three bond questions. If approved, the general obligation bonds will fund capital improvements at senior centers, libraries and schools around the state.

The bond package includes:

Bond Question A

•$33,292,141 statewide for certain senior citizen facilities, including improvements, construction and equipment acquisition.

Included in that total is $33,755 for the Magdalena Senior Center and $84,591 for the Veguita Senior Center for improvements to address code compliance issues, and the purchase and installation of equipment and building systems at both centers.

Bond Question B

•$9.5 million for academic, public school, tribal and public library resource acquisitions.

Bond Question C

•$155,973,967 statewide for certain higher education, special schools and tribal schools.

Included in this bond is $10 million for New Mexico Tech to plan, design, construct, furnish and equip Kelly Hall.

The total for all three questions, including bond issuance costs, is $199,200,000, according to the New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration.

If all three bond issues are approved by the voters, the property tax year 2020 mill levy has been set at 1.36 mills, the same as the 2018 and 2019 rates, meaning the bonds are not expected to increase property taxes.

The State Board of Finance estimates in a 10-year period, the three bonds would cost about $10.99 per $100,000 of asset value. Of that, Bond Issue A accounts for $1.83, Bond Issue B accounts for $0.54, and Bond Issue C accounts for $8.62.

Constitutional Amendments

Amendment 1

The amendment proposes to reduce the number of Public Regulation Commission members to three from five, with no more than two members from the same political party. Members would no longer be elected, but instead appointed for six-year terms by the governor, with the consent of the senate, from a list of nominees submitted to the governor through a newly established Public Regulation Commission Nominating Committee.

The amendment would also amend Article 11, Section 2 of the Constitution of New Mexico to narrow the scope of the PRC’s constitutionally granted regulatory powers to public utilities, while still allowing the legislature to assign responsibility for the regulation of other public service companies to the commission by law.

Amendment 2

This amendment proposes to allow the legislature to adjust the term of a state, county or district officer to align or stagger the election of officers for a particular state, county or district office throughout the state.

No statewide elective office would be subject to adjustment. The proposed amendment also clarifies that officers elected to fill a vacancy in office shall take office on the first day of January following their election.

El Defensor Chieftain