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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Komadina

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/18/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Revise County Classifications

SB 6

ANALYST Propst

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 6, Relating to Counties; Revising the Population Accounting Basis for Classifying

Counties, amends current language for the classification of counties and the regulation of the

salaries of elected county officials; the amendment seeks to utilize the most current annual

population data or estimate available from the US Census Bureau, instead of the official

decennial census.

SB 6 also amends the date salaries will be fixed for two years from January 1, (the year

determined) to July 1, (the year determined).

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

DFA reports that salaries of county officials are determined by county classification. Sandoval

County is estimated to be over the 100,000 mark since 2004 so it would be reclassified.

SB 6 passage will require a $6 to 8 thousand dollar raise per official in Sandoval County this

census cycle. Valencia and McKinley will surpass the 100,000 person mark between FY 2010-

2020.

Senate Bill 6 – Page

2

A' County B' County Difference

A. county commissioners $29,569 $22,832 $6,737

B. treasurer $65,501 $57,265 $8,236

C. assessor $65,501 $57,265 $8,236

D. sheriff $68,308 $59,699 $8,609

E. county clerk $65,501 $57,265 $8,236

F. probate judge $28,820 $20,024 $8,796

G. county surveyor $22,358 To be Determined

(Note: The above data came from 2007 NMSA 1979 4-44-4.1.

Amounts are not in $1000's.)

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA notes that SB 6 seeks to amend Section 4-44-1 NMSA 1978, classification of counties for

salary purposes. Current language regulates county classification by utilizing "the last official

census" from the US Census Bureau. However, the official census is done once every decade.

So even if the population of a county grew over the classification limits, the classification

would remain until the next census. Both 'A' and 'B" class counties, are defined by having a full

assessed valuation of $75 million. The difference between them is the 100,000 population mark.

By converting to the use of annual population data and estimates, 'B' counties on the borderline

can have their classification updated faster.

At present, the amendment will only affect Sandoval county, but Valencia and McKinley

counties are also expected to reach the magic 100,000 population necessary to be upgraded to A

between 2010 and 2020. SB 06 will cause them to be reclassified sooner than 2020 (a Census

year).

The change from Jan 1 to July 1 is to keep with the published population estimates which are

issued on July 1.

Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER)

Revised Population Projections for New Mexico and Counties

As of July 1...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

County 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NEW MEXICO 1,826,280 1,970,983 2,112,986 2,251,319 2,383,116 2,507,548 2,626,553

Bernalillo 558,437 595,954 631,839 666,114 698,832 729,750 759,000

Catron 3,567 3,829 4,063 4,275 4,459 4,616 4,752

Chaves 61,453 63,295 64,864 66,311 67,591 68,560 69,251

Cibola 25,683 26,753 27,681 28,479 29,157 29,732 30,231

Colfax 14,230 14,765 15,234 15,625 15,890 16,021 16,026

Curry 45,085 46,059 46,973 47,723 48,190 48,322 48,168

De Baca 2,241 2,270 2,289 2,293 2,296 2,295 2,296

Dona Ana 175,524 197,410 218,523 238,044 255,057 270,761 286,741

Eddy 51,736 53,514 55,274 56,948 58,514 59,908 61,066

Grant 31,083 32,462 33,769 34,920 35,886 36,758 37,657

Guadalupe 4,696 5,010 5,304 5,555 5,748 5,887 5,989

Senate Bill 6 – Page

3

Harding 828 805 780 754 726 697 676

Hidalgo 5,929 5,875 5,799 5,716 5,624 5,515 5,378

Lea 55,490 55,108 54,551 53,709 52,556 51,121 49,417

Lincoln 19,585 21,798 23,792 25,556 27,100 28,466 29,715

Los Alamos 18,359 18,720 19,114 19,574 20,060 20,494 20,749

Luna 25,189 28,638 32,206 35,888 39,512 42,963 46,328

McKinley 75,072 81,484 88,163 95,044 101,750 108,316 114,854

Mora 5,205 5,704 6,205 6,694 7,137 7,526 7,862

Otero 62,553 64,851 67,018 68,896 70,501 71,981 73,348

Quay 10,142 10,114 10,030 9,888 9,659 9,343 8,986

Rio Arriba 41,307 43,132 45,058 46,953 48,630 49,975 50,996

Roosevelt 18,075 19,117 20,197 21,238 22,159 22,985 23,773

Sandoval 90,775 108,538 126,294 144,37 162,409 179,998 197,182

San Juan 114,272 121,445 128,592 135,497 142,074 148,315 154,403

San Miguel 30,249 32,513 34,746 36,876 38,847 40,612 42,190

Santa Fe 129,936 143,987 158,624 174,400 191,403 208,801 226,012

Sierra 13,355 15,065 16,723 18,328 19,857 21,301 22,672

Socorro 18,165 19,802 21,421 23,000 24,493 25,864 27,137

Taos 30,154 32,651 35,097 37,400 39,442 41,191 42,678

Torrance 17,029 19,523 21,690 23,475 24,979 26,318 27,479

Union 4,177 4,280 4,365 4,439 4,507 4,563 4,619

Valencia 66,699 76,512 86,708 97,330 108,064 118,593 128,922

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