Clovis passes tax rededication

CLOVIS — The Clovis city commission, with a lighter agenda on its plate than in previous weeks, passed a rededication of gross receipts tax with a few conditions.

The commission approved an ordinance repurposing a .25% tax to potentially pay for $15 million in construction for the interim groundwater project of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System.

The meeting went about 25 minutes, with all measures passing on 7-0 votes as Mayor Pro Tem Juan Garza was not attending.

The interim groundwater project has a price tag of $90 million, and is proposed with contributions of $20 million from the Eastern New Mexico Water Utility Authority, $30 million from the state and $40 million from the federal government. The $15 million represents Clovis’ approximate three-quarters share of the authority’s stake.

The quarter-percent GRT currently funds police and fire services, and those services would instead be tentatively replaced by a property tax the commission approved at its Nov. 21 meeting.

The property tax would add $52.80 annually per $100,000 of commercial or residential property. However, it will not go into effect until and unless both the $30 million state share and the $40 million federal share are provided on or before March 31, 2022.

The ordinance, as presented to the commission, called for the GRT to be redesignated for:

• Financing $15 million for construction that represents the city’s share of the Eastern New Mexico Rural Water System’s interim groundwater project

• Payment of bonds toward $15 million for the aforementioned construction

• Any other lawful purpose.

Commissioner Rube Render offered amendments to that ordinance. The first two conditions would require the same conditions as the property tax, and the “any other lawful purpose” clause would require commission approval of that specific purpose.

Commissioner David Robinson, who had fought for the conditional implementation of the property tax, responded, “I like the changes.” Mayor David Lansford echoed those sentiments, and the revised ordinance passed unanimously.

The commission also signed onto a proposal encouraging the state to no longer tax Social Security benefits. The state is one of 13 to currently do so, and the list will shrink when West Virginia phases out the process by 2022.

Lansford said a key complaint during the property tax talk was that it would hit senior citizens with fixed incomes. It was his hope that the state could lower the tax burden to that segment of the population, noting the average Social Security beneficiary in New Mexico pays $700 annually on benefit taxes.

n Karen Alexander addressed the commission on the upcoming Wreaths Across America event scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday at Lawn Haven Memorial Gardens.

The national nonprofit organization uses donations to purchase wreaths to be laid on veterans’ graves in the days leading up to Christmas.

Alexander said locally, there will be 1,530 wreaths placed on gravesites. That’s below the 2,000-wreath goal, but an improvement on last year’s 1,460.

Monday was the cutoff for donations, Alexander said, and any additional money raised will go toward the 2020 effort. Alexander said anybody wishing to donate could contact her at 575-799-3577.

• The commission met for 40 minutes in executive session regarding a personnel matter, but took no action in regular session.

• The next meeting is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Dec. 19 at the North Annex of the Clovis-Carver Public Library.