Edgewood approves districting

Edgewood’s town council voted unanimously in favor of which plan to follow as it begins the districting process, and something’s amiss the town's gross receipts tax revenue.

Through markedly improved audio and video on the livestreamed meeting, all councilors and the mayor pro tem agreed that proposed districting Plan A from Research & Polling Inc. follows logical lines of division.

The adopted plan creates five districts with populations between 1,152 and 1,194. The data used to create these districts came from the 2010 census since the 2020 data was not available at the time of planning.

Though some 2020 census data was released this week, that data is not nuanced enough to offer any insight into ideal district populations, said Michael Sharp, vice president of Research & Polling.

This means that, once the census data on the smaller units of geography in Edgewood is available, the redistricting process can then begin. Sharp estimates that data could be released in late August, early September 2021.

That means that Edgewood will have to redistrict in 2022 with that updated data.

The question of how to elect representation for the commissioner-manager government that will speak for these districts remains under discussion. Commissioners could either be elected at large or by district.

Now that the council has adopted a districting plan, the next is for Santa Fe County to issue an election proclamation which would outline the specifics of the upcoming election in November, according to town clerk Juan Torres.

As the council opened up the phone lines for public comment on the matter, one caller did express concern for Councilor Sherry Abraham’s having residences in both Edgewood and Albuquerque.

Abraham denied being a resident of Albuquerque, though she did say she has a residence in the city as a means to care for her ailing mother. “I also maintain a residence in Edgewood to fulfill the term of office that I've taken,” she said.

Also of note was Torres’ recounting of the financials for 2021, wherein he pointed out a concerning downtrend of gross receipts taxes (GRT).

In contrast to sales tax, which is a levy on the price of goods purchased by consumers, GRT is a tax on the revenue generated by businesses, and they’re instrumental in Edgewood.

Edgewood’s GRT data for 2021 showed that monies accrued through food and medical distribution in April fell by 47% versus April 2020.

The financial data also demonstrated several other alarming and unexplained drops in distributions from February to March 2021, as well as some new categorizations of dividends, Torres said.

When asked, Torres offered that he suspected the numbers were inaccurate. He suggested possible faults in numbers reporting or potential coding errors during the recent digital update to the town’s ordinances and regulations as the cause of the apparent decline in revenue.

“Something definitely changed for us to take that big hit,” said Torres.

Torres and Abrams acknowledged the irregularities, and stated that questions are being asked, and answers would be forthcoming.

Additional town business included issuing a proclamation declaring the month of May to be Motorcycle Awareness Month in Edgewood.

Councilor Audrey Jaramillo shared the news that Edgewood will receive $50,000 in legislative funding for youth programming, $151,000 for improvements to E.C.H.O. Ridge Park, and $50,000 to plan and improve the community garden at the Edgewood Senior Center.

Abrams stated that Santa Fe County has issued a burn ban in conjunction with the public health ordinances currently in effect. He said that the ban will stand until the public health orders are renewed or modified.

Torres informed the council that the Earth Day clean-up event on April 24 was a success, with all available receptacles filled. He said that once the last bin is removed, the park will fully open back up.

Torres also mentioned that the early voting dates for the upcoming election to replace the vacancy in Congress created by Deborah Haaland's appointment as Interior Secretary will be May 4 to 29, with Election Day on June 1.

Residents of the first congressional district can register to vote online at nmvote.org until May 4.

After May 4, same-day voter registration and early voting will be available to Santa Fe County CD1 residents at the town of Edgewood's municipal building polling location during regular voting hours.