By Russell Max Simon
Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico)
Copyright 2006 Albuquerque Journal
Facing a crowd of about 200 supporters of an administrative increase in the property tax and an end-of-month deadline for enacting that tax, the Santa Fe city Finance Committee heard comments Tuesday from dozens of people who argued that dire public safety concerns outweighed the need to have a special election on the issue.
Even several senior citizens — traditionally a land-rich, cash-poor group thought to suffer most from property taxes — voiced support for the increase, along with dozens of Santa Fe property owners, police officers and firefighters, although at least two people spoke against raising the tax administratively.
According to state statute, Santa Fe may vote to raise the property tax by resolution as long as it is done before a Sept. 1 deadline.
Mayor David Coss has proposed raising Santa Fe’s property tax, among the lowest in New Mexico, about 6 percent to pay for what he, Fire Chief Chris Rivera and Police Chief Eric Johnson have all described as a crisis in the city’s fire and police departments. The increase would generate about $3 million a year to pay for increased staff and equipment for both departments and higher pay for police officers.
Seven of eight Santa Fe city councilors attended the public hearing, although only five sit on the Finance Committee. Their staunch opposition to raising the tax administratively, voiced at a volatile July 31 Finance Committee meeting, appeared to soften in the wake of a large public relations campaign over the past week and the hundreds of supporters — many of them off-duty and onduty police officers and firefighters — who showed up at the meeting.
Following about two hours of testimony, the committee voted to discuss the item at an Aug. 14 Finance Committee meeting, which begins at 5:15 p.m. Meanwhile, Coss said he would introduce a resolution during today’s City Council meeting calling for the tax increase and asked city councilors to approve it by the Aug. 30 City Council meeting.
“We’ve never set a precedent of sending tough issues to the voters,” Coss said, citing Santa Fe’s “living wage” law and an affordable housing ordinance as instances when the City Council has acted without a special election.
Coss also reiterated that neither he nor City Manager Asenath Kepler promised to propose the tax increase “either during the campaign or during the union negotiations,” adding that his desire to support the unions “was entirely consistent” with the needs of Santa Fe.
A meeting some feared could see a continuation of the animosity that erupted at last week’s Finance Committee meeting, when tension between city councilors and the city staff erupted into a virtual shouting match, instead seemed to be more cordial, though outbursts of applause and booing persisted.
Drawing some of the loudest applause of the evening, police chaplain José Villegas urged city councilors to leave politics behind and support the city’s public safety officers.
“Why are you disrespecting them? Why are you playing these little games of politics? It’s not your place,” Villegas said.
Several police officers criticized city councilors for claiming to have been “backed into a corner” by Coss’ request to act quickly on the tax rather than sending it to the voters. The officers said they take risks and make decisions every day that are far greater than the decision before the councilors.
“This isn’t about union solidarity,” said Robin Gould, a union representative. “These are people who live and work in this community and own homes here and support this tax. How much do we pay, what is the price for our peace of mind? Personally, I would rather pay 10 times the amount being proposed.”
Most of the city councilors on the committee were silent Tuesday when it came to outright opposition to the proposal, although they did pepper city staff members with more questions about how the tax would be used.
Councilor Matthew Ortiz, one of the council’s most vocal opponents to raising the tax administratively, said he wanted more information on how a general obligation bond could pay for some of the needs instead of more property tax.
The day before, Ortiz said a tax increase was “not something you take lightly” and “not something you do administratively.”
The fire department is requesting money for roughly half a dozen more vehicles and 20 more full-time employees — 15 of those would be rank-andfile firefighters — over the next two years.
The police department, according to a study released by Johnson, is currently in need of 44 more full-time officers. Johnson said he had 19 vacancies in the department (up from 16 just a week ago) that he is having trouble filling.