Letter to the Editor:

How voters are misled on GO bonds

I've lived in Silver City for about 40 years, during that time there were many GO bond elections. In every one of them the supporters said Gǣthere will be no increase in property taxesGǥ. I began to wonder, where is the money coming from to pay the bonds if the state never increases property taxes?

Here's the answer. The state Board of Finance sets the state property tax rate every year. When the mill levy was set for 2016 it included the increase that would occur if all the bond issues passed. So of course there will not be an increase if the bonds pass. The increase is already in the 2016 tax rate. What they don't tell you is that if the bonds fail your taxes will go down in 2017.

To give an example using round numbers; the state property tax mill levy for 2016 if there was no GO bond election would be 1.26 ($126 for $100,000 of taxable property). The increase needed to pay for all the bonds if they pass is 0.1 mills ($10 per $100,000 of taxable property). So the Board of Finance sets the mill levy for 2016 at 1.36 ($136 per $100,000 of taxable property). So when you vote on the GO bonds your tax rate is already set as if the bonds passed. What they don't tell the voter is that if the bonds fail the tax rate will decrease in 2017.

So the truth is that if the GO bonds pass your taxes will increase by about $10 per $100,000 of value for the next 20 years or so over what your taxes would be if the bonds failed.

The ad on the Western web page that says your taxes will not increase is misleading, the statement by the Chamber of Commerce is misleading and all the supporters of the GO bonds that say no tax increase are misleading the voters.

Alfred Milligan
Silver City, NM