The 2018 City of Las Cruces GO Bond election is complete! Results are available below and from the Doña County Clerk’s Office. The mail-ballot election spanned from July 24 to August 21, 2018.
Thank you for helping to shape the future of our community!
View Election ResultsThank you to all of the citizens who took the time to vote in Tuesday's special election. Voters approved all four GO Bond projects, with the best election turnout seen in many years.
These projects would not have been successful without the enthusiastic public input, comment, and debate that City staff received while creating these proposals. City of Las Cruces staff will work diligently to bring these projects to fruition as quickly as possible.
We will continue to seek your valuable public input during the upcoming phases of design construction, striving to remain transparent and responsive.
Thank you for contributing, voting, and being part of our city. Let's GO BUILD!
General Obligation (GO) Bonds are an important source of funding for basic capital improvements (bricks and mortar) that our growing community requires to thrive.
General Obligation Bonds are typically best suited for projects that benefit the general public but generate little or no revenue to pay debt service.
The 2018 City of Las Cruces GO Bond election spanned from July 24 to August 21, 2018. A summary of election results appears below, and is also available from the Doña County Clerk’s Office.
For | 8,654 |
Against | 6,544 |
Total Votes | 15,198 |
For | 10,190 |
Against | 4,996 |
Total Votes | 15,186 |
For | 10,441 |
Against | 4,573 |
Total Votes | 15,014 |
For | 8,554 |
Against | 6,268 |
Total Votes | 14,822 |
For | 10,182 |
Against | 3,849 |
Total Votes | 14,031 |
For | 10,090 |
Against | 3,870 |
Total Votes | 13,960 |
For | 9,134 |
Against | 4,823 |
Total Votes | 13,957 |
For | 6,648 |
Against | 7,343 |
Total Votes | 13,991 |
For | 9,219 |
Against | 4,975 |
Total Votes | 14,194 |
For | 9,571 |
Against | 4,630 |
Total Votes | 14,201 |
The City Council approved the following priority projects to appear on the GO Bond election mail-ballot that concluded on August 21, 2018.
These projects emerged from the public input process and are described below.
PDF format, 40 Kb in size. Prepared July 19, 2018.
The ballot posed six questions about each of the GO bond issues. A sample ballot is available for download (PDF).
The ballot also posed six questions about proposed amendments to the Las Cruces City Charter.
The Las Cruces City Charter was initially adopted by City Council on Jan. 7, 1985. It has been amended four times: Nov. 7, 1989; Nov. 2, 1993; Nov. 10, 2005, and in December 2006. The current version is available on the City's website. Copies of the City Charter are also available at City Hall, 700 N. Main St.
This project creates a new stray animal and adoption center along with administration offices on the site of the existing facility.
This project replaces the existing Fire Station 3, a building constructed in 1967. The replacement would add response capacity of the station for increasing call demand.
This project focuses on upgrades to Citywide multi-use paths and trails, and implements aspects of the Mesilla Valley Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) plan:
A GO Bond is a form of debt financing secured by property tax revenue - General obligation bonds can be issued for general purpose projects. The law requires like or similar projects to be presented in a separate question for voter approval.
State statute limits the amount of general obligation bonds issued by municipalities to 4% of total assessed valuation. The City of Las Cruces' current GO Bonding capacity is about $92 million.
No, Las Cruces currently has no GO Bond debt.
A GO Bond is typically paid back in 10 to 15 years with an interest rate based on the City's credit worthiness. A municipality can borrow at a better than private market rate.
Many communities issue and repay GO Bonds on a regular cycle - e.g. every 2 to 6 years. The City will evaluate the success of the upcoming election to determine the strategy for future elections.
The following table shows the yearly impact to a typical homeowner should voters approve a $35.6 million GO Bond that funds all of the proposed projects.
Bond Size: Yearly Cost to a Typical Homeowner | ||
---|---|---|
Full Value | Assessed Value* | 2.1 mills |
$100,000 | $33,333 | $70.00 |
$125,000 | $41,667 | $87.00 |
$150,000 | $50,000 | $105.00 |
$175,000 | $58,333 | $122.00 |
$200,000 | $66,667 | $140.00 |
$225,000 | $75,000 | $157.00 |
$250,000 | $83,333 | $175.00 |
*Tax at 1/3 market valuation Median Home Value
Yes. Las Cruces has a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) that is now primarily funded by revenue bonds. These are bonds issued against a regular source of revenue such as the City's share of the New Mexico Gross Receipts Tax (GRT). You can find information about the City's CIP program here, at the Office of Management and Budget site.
Depending on which GO Bond requests are approved, the City will prepare for one or several bond sales spaced out to minimize interest cost and match project needs. Tax rates would be adjusted after the sale of the bond(s), and property owners would see that increase on their next property tax bill (issued annually).
The ballot also contains several proposed charter amendment changes:
Send in your thoughts to gobond@las-cruces.org.
Voting for City's $35.6 million General Obligation bond election is complete. Each registered voter in Las Cruces should have received a ballot in the mail with a postage-paid envelope for returning the completed ballot. All ballots, mailed-in or hand-delivered, had to have been received at the county clerk's office by 7:00 PM on August 21.
This recent CLC-TV video explains the voting process:
The City of Las Cruces held a press conference on July 23, 2018 to provide residents more information about the $35.6 million special election:
The 2018 General Obligation Bond election ran from July 24 through August 21 as a mail-ballot process.
The City of Las Cruces provides resources like this website to help you determine the issues and priorities that will be put to the community for a vote.
View a PDF presentation to the City Council about the projects within the GO Bond.
PDF format, 1 MB in size. Presented June 4, 2018.
The City welcomes your thoughts about the GO Bond and the implementation of its projects.
You can provide input by attending a public meeting and emailing your suggestions to gobond@las-cruces.org.
The City received many comments during public meetings and email correspondence. These paraphrased comments received to date are available for download in Microsoft Excel (xlsx) format and plain text (csv).