SENATE BILL 222
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009
INTRODUCED BY
Dede Feldman
AN ACT
RELATING TO SPECIAL DISTRICTS; AMENDING SECTION 73-16-2 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 1927, CHAPTER 45, SECTION 502) TO PROVIDE FOR A TRAILS PROGRAM IN BERNALILLO COUNTY AND TO ASSIGN A PORTION OF THE ASSESSMENTS OF THE MIDDLE RIO GRANDE CONSERVANCY DISTRICT FOR THAT PURPOSE.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 73-16-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1927, Chapter 45, Section 502) is amended to read:
"73-16-2. PRELIMINARY FUND.--
[(1)] A. As soon as any district [shall have] has been organized under [this] the Conservancy Act and a board [shall have] has been appointed and qualified, [such] the board [shall have] has the power and authority to fix the amount of a uniform assessment upon the property within the district not to exceed [six (6)] five and one-half mills for every dollar of assessed valuation [thereof] of the property, as a level rate to be used for the purpose of paying the expenses of organization, of assessing benefits and damages, for surveys and plans and for other incidental expenses [which] that may have been incurred prior to the time when money is received from the sale of bonds or otherwise.
[(2)] B. The [said] assessment shall be levied by resolution of the board; shall be known as the preliminary fund assessment; and the amount of assessment shall be certified to the boards of county commissioners of the various counties in which the district, or any portion [thereof] of it, is located, and by them included in their next annual levy for state and county purposes. [Said] The amount shall be collected for the use of [such] the district in the same manner as are taxes for county purposes, and the revenue laws of the state for the levy and collection of taxes for county purposes, except as [herein] modified by the Conservancy Act, shall be applicable for the levy and collection of the amount certified by the board of [such] the district as [aforesaid] provided in Subsection A of this section, including the enforcement of penalties and forfeiture for delinquent taxes. All collections made by the county treasurer pursuant to such levy shall be paid to the treasurer of the district on or before the tenth day of the next succeeding calendar month, and a list of the [payors] payers, the amounts paid by each and the property covered [thereby] shall accompany [such] the remittance.
[(3)] C. If [such] the items of expense have already been paid in whole or in part from other sources, they may be repaid from the receipts of [such] the levy, and [such] the levy may be made although the work proposed may have been found impracticable or for other reasons is abandoned.
[(4)] D. In case the proceeds of [such] the assessment, including those of any other assessment previously made for the preliminary fund, [exceeds] exceed the total amount of money borrowed for the preliminary fund or the amount needed to complete the preliminary expenses, the surplus shall be placed in the general fund of the district and used to pay the cost of construction, except that the same may be refunded or adjusted as [hereinafter] provided in the Conservancy Act if deemed more just and so ordered by the court; provided, however, that if the district [be] is dissolved, the amount of surplus, if there [be] is any, shall be prorated and refunded to the landowners paying [such] the assessment.
[(5)] E. The information collected by the necessary surveys, the appraisals of benefits and damages and other information and data are [hereby] declared to constitute benefits for which [said] the assessment may be levied. In case a district is dissolved or abandoned before the work is constructed, the data, plans and estimates [which] that have been secured shall be filed with the clerk of the court in which the district was organized and shall be matters of public record available to anyone interested.
F. A board of a conservancy district that encompasses a class A county of a population of five hundred thousand or more according to the most recent federal decennial census shall allocate a portion of the uniform annual assessment upon the property within that county of one-half mill for every one dollar ($1.00) of assessed valuation thereof as a level rate to be used for the exclusive purpose of establishing and maintaining a trails program and related recreational benefits on and adjacent to its ditches, drains and related facilities. The trails program and related recreational benefits shall be established within that same class A county of a population of five hundred thousand or more. The county shall collect the assessment and distribute the portion allocated for the trails program and related recreational benefits to the operating entity. As used in this subsection, "operating entity" means the open space division of the largest municipality in that class A county described in this section. The assessment shall be allocated, collected and distributed commencing in the year of the effective date of this 2009 act and continue every year thereafter. The conservancy district shall not increase the uniform annual assessment as a result of the allocation of a portion of uniform annual assessment required herein to be allocated to the trails program and related recreational benefits. The mid-region council of governments shall oversee the development of a management plan for the trails program, which shall include the city of Albuquerque, Bernalillo county, the village of Los Ranchos, the Albuquerque metropolitan arroyo flood control authority, the state parks division of the energy, minerals and natural resources department and the middle Rio Grande conservancy district. The management plan shall be completed within one year of July 1, 2009. The management plan shall ensure implementation of a trails program in conjunction and in harmony with the conservancy district's statutory duties. The management plan shall ensure the preservation of the natural values of and the cultural values pertaining to the ditches within the conservancy district. The mid-region council of governments shall hold public hearings on the management plan. The conservancy district shall cooperate with the operating entity in establishing and maintaining the trails program and related recreational benefits adjacent to its ditches and drains through execution of a joint powers agreement. The joint powers agreement shall establish the right of ingress and egress to, on and across conservancy district property for the purpose of a trails program for both the operating entity and for public use. The joint powers agreement shall incorporate the management plan. In the event the operating entity and the conservancy district fail to negotiate a joint powers agreement within one year of July 1, 2009, the operating entity and the conservancy district shall submit any unresolved disputes to binding arbitration."
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