New Mexico voters came out in a strong way and showed their support for the funding of education. Two new bonds were approved by tax payers, Bond B which will raise $9.8 million for libraries and Bond C which will spread $119 million across the state universities.
The University of New Mexico will see the largest chuck, some $24.5 million to help renovate and improve the university’s campus.
“It’s wonderful for the university. It allows us to go ahead and give renovations to these two critical buildings,” President Bob Frank said Tuesday night. “It will give our students access to facilities that are critical for (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education and it’ll allow them state of the art facilities, and we will do everything we can to move the renovations along.”
The Carlsbad campus of NMSU will be given a cool million which is already slotted to replace aging HVAC systems in multiple buildings. The bond is significant because the campus’ aging buildings are in need of repair, said Khushroo Ghadiali a director at NMSU.
The last bond measure for university funding was stuffed due to a tax increase that was part of the package. This year the tax increase was nixed and it received more than 60% approval.
Public libraries, academic libraries and school libraries will all get about equal share of the boon, most of which will go to the acquisition of library materials. Tribal libraries are expected to see roughly $700,000 which will also aid in the construction of new locations.
The New Mexico State University library should see approximately $400,000 in funding while most community libraries will have $20,000 to $80,000 added to their coffers.
Funding for General Obligation Bond B and C will increase property tax to a sufficient level to meet it’s debt obligations.