Officials detail bond issues at public forum

CLOVIS — The High Plains Patriots hosted an open forum at the Clovis-Carver Library Thursday, with an eye toward the Clovis Municipal Schools general obligation bond and tax levy election.

School district officials said they are asking voters to authorize up to $20 million in general obligation bonds, which would essentially continue the existing debt service at the same level and will not result in a debt service tax rate increase — adding the district’s assessed value has continued to grow strong, which allows the district to issue up to $20 million in bonds without increasing the debt service tax rate.

Officials said the Feb. 7 election will be held at Colonial Park Golf Course, the Youth Recreation Building, Roy Walker Community Center, Trinity United Methodist Church, North Plains Mall, and the Curry County Administrative Complex. Early and absentee voting began Jan. 13 and will continue through Feb. 3.

“The neat thing about our bond, what it does for our community is allow us to replace some of our schools,” Clovis Municipal Schools Deputy Superintendent of Operations Carrie Bunce said. “Lockwood, James Bickley and Gattis were all replaced with bond money. Gattis was probably a $30 million project and Lockwood a $16 million project. What happens is the PSFA (Public Schools Facilities Authority), an organization with the state, matches funds — so for every 25 cents on the dollar we put in, they put in 75 cents — which allows us to take our $20 million bond and stretch it much further. The kicker is if we don’t have our 25 cents on the dollar, then we can’t even apply for funds. We also use it to do some furnishings in our schools.”

Bunce said the two-mill capital levy is a $2 tax per $1,000 of taxable value on property, adding, “It’s important to realize it’s taxable value and not appraisal value. We have checked with the county clerk’s office and what they consider taxable value is about one third of your property value. That is something where we do a lot of maintenance work with our schools. We purchase maintenance equipment (and) our activity buses are purchased with that and one of the most important things we do with the two-mill levy is it keeps our technology current and up to date for our kids. Without the two-mill levy, we could not keep current programs in computers on the desks of our kids.”

According the Bunce, the school district is continuing efforts to look at the construction and design of Highland Elementary School, which has a plumbing and sewer system in dire need of replacement, among other needs.

“Another thing we’re looking at is the turf (at Leon Williams Stadium),” she said. “A lot of people thought the turf was a one and done type of thing — that once we did the turf, it would be there forever. But turf is like carpet, it wears out. That turf has been down going on 10 years and the life expectancy is eight or nine. We have gotten more out the life expectancy because we really take good care of it. After the cleaning it this year, they had us come out and look at the fibers, which were coming unattached. The football team is not the one that uses the turf the most, it’s probably the band. The band is on that football field almost every day. Outside of the band we have the football team and soccer team. The field is very well used.”

Clovis Municipal School Superintendent Jody Balch said approval of the bond measure is vital to the school district.

“This bond is imperative to keeping this district afloat,” he said. “And if we have to go to cash balance to keep it afloat, that won’t last long. This district is frugal with our tax dollars. I know the Patriots stand for being conservative, wanting tax dollars spent in a proper manner and accountability. And if you can find a (school) district in New Mexico that meets that criteria better than we do, I’d like to know where it is. We are ranked 87th per pupil for funding and almost dead last. We get less money than 86 districts in New Mexico. We operated in the black last year for the first time in the last six years. We’ve been going to cash balance to make things work.”

Nobody at the forum spoke in opposition to the tax questions.