Ballots out to Texico voters in mill levy election

TEXICO — Ballots have been mailed to registered voters of the Texico Municipal School District for the district’s upcoming bond and SB-9 mill levy election.

According to a pamphlet prepared by the district, the revenue from the proposed $2 million in general obligation bonds and 2.15-mil levy will go toward an elementary playground update, construction of a nurse’s office and district-wide technology upgrades, among other projects.

“We’ve been adding individual cameras here and there but we really need to evaluate our whole system and make sure we have appropriate servers and obviously more cameras to help ensure student safety,” Texico Superintendent Robert Brown told The News.

If both bond questions are passed, property taxes will remain the same. Should one or both measures fail, property taxes for the owner of a $150,000 home in the district would, effective next year:

• Drop by $107.65 annually if both questions fail

• Drop by $95.30 if the levy question fails

• Drop by $12.35 if only the bond question fails

“But obviously, our hope is our community will continue to support these bonds and SB-9 elections so we can continue to maintain and improve our facilities,” Brown said.

Brown told The News that it would take many years to save up money to pay for these projects without bond funding and the SB-9 revenue is put toward annual maintenance costs.

Due to changes to state law last year, Brown said this will be Texico’s first time utilizing mail-in ballots for its school bond election. He said the cost of the election was about $5,500 and he wasn’t sure what impact the switch to mail-in ballots would have on the results.

“It’s just really hard to know that,” Brown said. “I hope that people will receive their ballots, they will vote immediately and get that back in the mail.”

Ballots are due back to residents’ respective county clerk by Feb. 5.

Both the Curry and Roosevelt county commissions have special meetings Feb. 8 to canvass the election. Brown said Roosevelt County has approximately 40 voters within the Texico school district.

“I know that the school district’s constituents have never not passed a SB-9 or bond election and we have very much benefited from these elections in the past and I hope they continue to support,” Brown said.