City of Alamogordo, New Mexico

Commissioner's Corner 01-2009

Good morning. I hope your 2009 started well.

At the last commission meeting in December we approved six questions to be voted on in March. These questions, if passed, will allow the city to issue twenty year term property tax bonds in the specified amounts for the proposed projects. Simply, the questions are, Do you approve: (1) $3.5 million for the constructing or remodeling of a library; (2) $900 thousand for building and equipping a new fire station; (3) $3.13 million for building and improving city parks and facilities; (4) $900 thousand for streets and bridges; (5) $50 thousand for the purchase and installation of a 150’ flag pole at a city park; and (6) $6.5 million for the improving of our existing wastewater treatment plant. The questions stand alone on their merits, but the first five will make up one bond and question six will be a separate bond. Should any question fail, the total amount bonded for will be less the amount of the question(s) that failed. If all questions pass, the bonds will total approximately $15 million.

Here is my short synopsis of each question.

Question 1: This will remodel and add to the existing library building or remodel the IGA building to some extent. The question allows for a new building, but I don’t believe there is enough money for that.

Question 2: This will build fire station 8, most likely on the northwest side of town.

Question 3: This will fund many quality of life projects. Projects include the Oregon tennis courts rebuild, the senior center therapy pool, a spray park for young children, additions to the skateboard park, a new entrance building to our zoo, and an expanded detention pond at Hooser Park.

Question 4: This will be used for west 1st Street, to repave Pecan, and to replace the 9^th Street bridge.

Question 5: This will purchase and install a 150 foot flag pole at a city park.

Question 6: This will partially fund the rebuild/expansion of our wastewater treatment plant. Total costs of this project are estimated to be as high as $15 million. Remaining funding will come from rate increases and grants.

The cost to you depends on the dollar amount of the questions that pass. This year the city will pay off an existing property tax bond. Most of the funding can come from extending the tax used to pay those bonds. Our bond advisors indicate we can raise $10 million in this way with no increase to your property taxes. The remaining $5 million will cause an increase of approximately $26 per year per one hundred fifty thousand dollars in property valuation.

All of these projects, with the exception of the spray park and the flag pole, have been on the city’s infrastructure capital improvement plan for years. They all have support from within the community.

I kept this as short as I could so please contact me or any city commissioner to talk more about each question. You can also visit the city’s website to view a sample ballot. Then, please turn out and vote.

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General Obligation (GO) Bond

Letter to the Editor November 4, 2008:
     The City of Alamogordo has a General Obligation (GO) Bond maturing in August of 2009. Property owners in our community are currently paying on this; it is part of your tax structure. For this type of bond, when the City borrows the money it pledges to pay the debt back using property taxes. This tax is levied against all taxable property in the City of Alamogordo; including business property and residences.