Election for Open Space Taxes on March 13

In case it has escaped your notice (a likely scenario, given the short time since the resolution calling for the election was passed with little notice during the holidays), we're having a special election in Los Ranchos in just a few weeks---Tuesday, March 13, to be exact. There is one question on the ballot----Shall the property owners in the Village of Los Ranchos de Albuquerque agree to levy a tax on themselves of one mil for a $3.5 million bond for the purpose of purchasing open space?

First, a translation of the legal mumbo-jumbo----what is a mil, anyway? It is one-tenth of a percent, or a "thousandth". That would come to $1 per $1000 of taxable value. To put in more understandable terms, that comes to $100 per year for every $300,000 of assessed value (not market value). That is because in NM your taxable value is 1/3 of the assessed value. The bond is for 20 years, so the village is asking us to pony up a few thousand each for "open space".

Sounds great, someone else with their hands in our pockets for "public works". But we all love our open space and pastoral vistas--that is probably why we were willing to shell out such ungodly sums to buy homes here. And we all rightly decry the daily loss of old alfalfa fields to obscene McMansions. Soon the place is going to look like Tanoan with a few cottonwoods. Wouldn't it be nice if some land was set aside and left open, for the public to enjoy, before its all gone?

Yup, it would be great. But there are a few problems to consider. First, what land are we going to buy? And what are we going to do with it? Use it to stash more tasteless junk donated to the village, like we do at the park by village hall? Or maybe, since it would be village property, we could put up more $ell towers, disguised as Walmart artificial Christmas Trees! ! No one seems to be taking much about that. Sounds like they want us to sign a big blank check.

More ominously---whoever owns this "open space" may be getting set up for a big windfall if there isn't a fair and independent appraisal and open public disclosure of the deal. If you were around when McCall made out huge with the lower Anderson deal, then you know what I'm talking about. The opportunity for corruption is obvious. With Larry and Juan at the helm---remember, these guys shelled out $750,000 for a seedy, run-down junk yard on 4th street with almost no public notice, and agreed to lease a land-locked lot near Paseo for $38,000 per MONTH--this makes me pretty nervous. It should make you that way also.

It has been rumored that the gang on Rio Grande have a deal in the works already to use the bond plus some capital outlay money to buy some of the old Anderson Winery property on RGB---for a cool $350k per acre, more or less. Now, that is a nice piece of land. Beautiful and serene. It makes for a relaxing view for all of the landed gentry as they drive to their palatial estates after a hard day. But what about those of us who are also paying the tax, and live a hardscrabble existence to the east? Where are our grassy fields? Our peaceful vistas? I'm not wild about shelling out my hard-earned bucks so some gizillionaire can look at the geese through his beemer windows.

Then, there is this fishy business about a lawsuit settlement. The owners of Anderson sued the village after Larry slapped a big front-yard setback on RGB, which impacted the number of McMansions that could be slapped on the property. This was settled. I wonder if a promise to but the land by the village was part of the deal?

On the other and, I also am sick of these McMansions. Its tragic what happened at poblanos orchards. I'd hate to see that cancer expand. Maybe I'll vote for the tax. Or maybe not. It depends on whether or not Larry and Juan can convince me that they will use this money fairly.