County considers combining beer and wine permit, courthouse votes

Doña Ana County officials are looking at the possibility of combining an election about beer and wine permits with a vote about whether to raise property taxes to pay for a new state district courthouse.

State Rep. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, asked the New Mexico attorney general in September whether a bond issue question could be placed on a ballot along with a beer-and-wine permit question.

Cervantes, in the letter written on behalf of the county, didn't specify why the question was being asked.

Assistant County Manager Sue Padilla confirmed the county is trying to find out whether it's OK to place the courthouse matter on the ballot with a question about beer and wine permits.

The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners in a 4-1 vote in May approved a resolution indicating its intent to ask voters for a property tax increase to pay for a proposed new courthouse.

Third Judicial District Court officials have said their existing facility on West Picacho Avenue in Las Cruces is crowded and will become more so if the Legislature approves new judgeships next year.

County Manager Brian Haines said at the time that he was aiming for the question to be placed before voters in February 2009.
Commissioners have discussed Dec. 17 as a possible date for a beer and wine permit election.

Election officials have said the cost of a special election could range between $47,000 and $133,000, depending on the number of polling places and the election type.

County Commission Chairman Kent Evans said he'd prefer the questions be asked on the same ballot, though that will be difficult.

"We'd like to put the two together, and we'd like to do it in December, but if I were guessing, I don't think we're going to do the beer and wine until next spring," he said. "It's going to be really hard to get done what we need done to do both of them."

However, Evans said, the county's next steps will depend on what the Attorney General Gary King says.

Padilla, too, said the answer is important.

"Until we get the AG's opinion, we're waiting for that to make a decision," she said.

As of Friday, the county hadn't received an opinion.

Phil Sisneros, spokesman for the attorney general, in an e-mail said he couldn't provide a time frame for when the opinion would be issued.

"We do recognize that Rep. Cervantes would like our evaluation and opinion to be complete before the December elections in Doña Ana County," he wrote. "Every effort will be made to complete our research as quickly as possible."

But even if the beer and wine permit election is not held this year, Evans said it's possible the courthouse referendum could be a stand-alone election in December. He said the county could then pursue a beer and wine permit election next spring.

The county commission on Sept. 23 postponed a measure in support of the beer and wine permit election, after concerns by County Commissioner Dolores Saldaña-Caviness that the county might be asked by residents to hold an election on a separate matter: whether liquor licenses can be transferred into the unincorporated areas from other jurisdictions, something that's not allowed now.

For the liquor license measure to appear on the ballot, 5 percent of county voters must sign a petition and present it to the commission. Some residents have expressed interest in circulating such a document.

Saldaña-Caviness said she wanted to make sure the county didn't wind up holding two special elections, one dealing with beer and wine permits and the other dealing with liquor licenses. Now that a third special election is being discussed, Saldaña-Caviness said she hopes it can be combined with the other issues.

"One hundred thousand dollars, for my district, is a lot of money," she said. "These things need to go before voters, but if we can lump them into one expense, all the better."

Evans said officials are proposing a referendum on implementing a mil levy to pay for the courthouse because there's no room in the county's budget to cover the cost.

"It has got to be done this way," he said. "We don't have enough money to do what we're supposed to be doing now."

A beer and wine permit election would ask voters whether to authorize the state to issue the permits to restaurants in unincorporated areas.