Commissioner decries state-imposed tax increase

Doña Ana County Commissioner Bill McCamley is upset after a vote Monday by the commission to raise property taxes.

But he’s not blaming his fellow commissioners who voted for the increase. He blames the state.

Each year, using an extremely complicated formula, the state’s Department of Finance and Administration determines the property tax rate for each taxing area throughout the state. The tax rate is different in various areas. Some are in cities, others are in unincorporated areas, and there are different school districts whose boundaries often overlap those of cities and counties.

I tried once before to get an explanation from the state on how the formula works, but was told I don’t have the mathematical training to understand.

Regardless, state law requires counties to approve the annual tax rates set by the state each year. That was up for a vote at a special meeting of commissioners Monday.

The average tax increase in the county was about 1 percent, which brought the average property tax rate in the county to just over 8 percent – still among the lowest property-tax rates in the nation, but a sizable increase.

McCamley complained. He questioned why, if commissioners have no say in whether and why the rate goes up, they have to approve the increase. He also questioned what the increase would pay for.

The property tax pays for all sorts of public services, including bonds that were reaffirmed by voters this year for the Las Cruces Public Schools and Doña Ana Branch of New Mexico State University. But neither of those approvals included a tax increase. They reaffirmed taxes that were already in place.

There were no answers, McCamley said, except that if commissioners didn’t approve the rate, they also would not be authorizing the assessor to assess taxes and the treasurer to collect. That would create a nightmare for local governments funded by property taxes, which have bills to pay and services to provide.

In the end, commissioners McCamley and Paul Curry voted against authorization of the agenda item. The other three voted for the resolution, which was approved.

McCamley said afterward he believes the state is “passing the political buck on to others” by setting a rate the counties are required to approve. He noted that, according to state law, counties must approve the increase within five days of being notified of it by the state, giving county officials little time to analyze the numbers.

McCamley said he has no problem raising taxes when he sees the need. He led the charge for tax hike to increase funding for public safety, and is supporting a proposed increase to help fund construction at Spaceport America, but said he has no idea why Monday’s tax increase was necessary, especially since the county is growing and property values are increasing, which means the county is already collecting increased revenue.

“If the state wants to impose a tax, they should be the ones to impose it,” McCamley said.

I have a call into the state finance department for an explanation of why the tax increase was necessary. I’ll let you know when I get an explanation.

You can read more on this issue from the Las Cruces Sun-News.