CNM Community College Expansion Vote

Monday, October 29, 2007

CNM Ballots Mailed to Voters

By Martin Salazar
Journal Staff Writer
Central New Mexico Community College officials say they've been inundated with calls from Albuquerque residents wanting to know whether their property taxes will increase if college boundaries are expanded.
The answer: absolutely not.
The Bernalillo County Clerk's Office has already begun mailing out the ballots, which will determine whether CNM can expand its boundaries to include northern Rio Rancho.
More than 400,000 mail-in ballots are being sent to registered voters who will decide the issue in the next few weeks. The deadline for returning ballots to the Bernalillo County Clerk's office is Nov. 15.
The college expects results will be available before Thanksgiving.
If the measure is approved, CNM plans to begin constructing a new 40-acre campus near Rio Rancho's City Centre. The state's largest community college has already secured land for the campus, and it has $20 million ready to go for construction of a building.
The college plans to share the new building with the University of New Mexico, a move that will give UNM a jump start on establishing its Rio Rancho campus.
While Albuquerque and southern Rio Rancho residents won't see their taxes increase if this passes, northern Rio Rancho residents will.
Two separate elections will be held simultaneously. Residents in northern Rio Rancho will be asked whether they want to join CNM's tax district. Those already in the district will also have to approve expansion of the boundaries.
Ballots will indicate whether a voter currently lives in or out of the district.
A majority of voters in both elections must approve the proposal for the boundaries to be extended. If voters say "no," CNM won't be able to build the new campus.
In northern Rio Rancho, the owner of a home assessed at $150,000 would see a property tax increase of $178.
"We feel like our mission is very well-served by being in the community," CNM President Katharine Winograd said, referring to Rio Rancho. Winograd said the college has more than 2,000 students with Rio Rancho zip codes attending one of its existing campuses near Downtown, in the Northeast Heights, the South Valley, the West Side and at its Workforce Training Center off of Interstate 25.
CNM says the citizens of Rio Rancho would benefit, as would the school.
It would take in about $1 million more in annual property tax revenue, college spokeswoman Samantha Bousliman said. That amount would increase as Rio Rancho continues to grow. CNM currently takes in nearly $33.3 million in property tax revenue, roughly 32 percent of the school's budget, Bousliman said.
Winograd estimates that a Rio Rancho campus for CNM would draw an additional 3,000 students. More students translates into more dollars, an attractive prospect for CNM officials who for the past few years have worried about a cut in their state appropriation due to waning enrollment, now at about 22,000.
CNM has been laying the groundwork for this vote for years, squirreling away money to pay for a Rio Rancho campus, finding suitable land and conducting polls to gauge where voters stand on the issue.