Ongoing CNM/APS bond election could raise your taxes; but do they WANT you to vote?

01.15.2016

Early voting for yet another election is underway in the Albuquerque area. What, you didn’t know that? It might be by design, or at least it seems to be hardly accidental (considering how pathetic turnout was in the last municipal election which was better-publicized by far). This election is for a series of Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) bond measures. Of course, people working for those institutes have an interest in voting, but how about the rest of us?

Unlike most bond measures which are sold to the public as “not raising taxes,” the CNM bond would increase the Capital Mil Levy from .55 to 1.0 and increase all property taxes in Bernalillo County and parts of Sandoval County. The impact of the increase would be approximately $29.10 per year on a house with a market value of $200,000. That’s a decent-sized increase.

Early voting is going on now at the following sites:

Early voting started on January 13 and ends on Saturday, January 30. Voting sites will be set up at the following locations (shown in green on the map). Election Day is February 2nd with sites listed at the link above.

  • APS City Centre (map)
  • APS Lincoln Complex (map)
  • CNM Main Campus: BT2 (Basehart Temporary Portable 2) (map)
  • CNM Montoya Campus: Building I, Room 111 (map)
  • RFK Charter School (map)

I took time yesterday to vote at CNM’s main campus and, while it took me awhile because the information I had didn’t specify WHERE on CNM’s main campus the vote was being held, I did manage to find the lovely portable trailer voting area which is located on the East Side of University overlooking Milne Football stadium.

You should do the same. the local economy is as weak as can be and new taxes won’t help. While CNM does a better job than many New Mexico colleges and universities, it also has  7 different locations in the metro area. Of course, APS has also had its well-publicized issues with taxpayer-funded contract buyouts etc. Voting down bonds is one of the few means of holding these bureaucracies accountable.