Voters to decide on use of $166 million in bonds

Proposed funding would benefit higher education, senior citizen centers, libraries and school buses

In addition to deciding on candidates for county, state and federal offices, voters in New Mexico are being asked whether the state should issue $166 million in bonds to pay for public works projects.

The proposals would include funding for colleges and universities, senior citizen centers, public libraries and school buses.

Each of those four areas are separate ballot questions for voters. The lion’s share of the bond money — more than $136.2 million — is in the fourth bond question for higher education, special schools and tribal schools.

Cecilia Cervantes, Santa Fe Community College interim president, is backing the measure, which would allocate $5 million to her school.

“This will impact the safety of students, energy efficiency and infrastructure needs,” she said in an interview.

The debt on general obligation bonds is guaranteed by money from the state’s general fund. They are the major source of brick-andmortar projects funding for the state’s higher education institutions. Such bond questions are put to voters every two years.

Among the areas that would be funded at the community college, Cervantes said, is a project that uses power generated by the college’s solar array.

“This will help us track energy use to make us more energy efficient,” she said.

Last year the college received a $351,000 federal grant for its solar project. The proposed bonds would provide upgrades to cooling towers and installation of clean-

energy sources.

Also, Cervantes said, the bond money would go toward better fire protection and purchasing equipment for the school’s automotive training center, which the college plans to build in the coming year.

Other schools would be able to spend the bond money on renovations, planning and construction of new buildings, repairs and demolition of old facilities.

Besides the community college, other area schools that would receive money from the bonds are Santa Fe Indian School, the Institute of American Indian Arts and New Mexico School for the Deaf, Cervantes said.

“I’m trying to get the vote out so our students will have a better environment to work in,” she said.

Backers of the bond issue say this measure would not increase property taxes. This is because these bonds would replace 10-year-term general obligation bonds that passed in 2008 and are being retired.

A political action committee called GO Bonds for Education has raised more than $266,000 for advertising and a website trying to persuade voters to back the bond question. It is funded by foundations associated with schools.

Other bond questions this year are:

The New Mexico Senior Citizen Facilities Bond

This would authorize the state to sell and issue $10.7 million in bonds for senior citizen facilities, including money to address code-compliance issues and purchasing equipment and vehicles for senior citizen facilities across the state.

The New Mexico Public Libraries Bond

This would authorize the state to sell and issue just shy of $12.9 million in bonds for academic, public school, tribal and public libraries. Among projects the money would be spent on are print and electronic resources, broadband internet equipment, and furniture.

The New Mexico School Buses Bond

This would authorize the state to sell and issue $6.1 million in bonds for public school districts to purchase school buses and equip them with air-conditioning, if necessary.