Rio Rancho Councilors Eye Tax Change To Help Police

Some Rio Rancho city councilors say changing a tax approved for higher education projects could provide revenue to remedy staffing and equipment problems in the city’s police department.

Councilor Chuck Wilkins plans to propose reducing the quarter-of-one-percent gross receipts higher education tax by 50 percent and introducing a new one-eighth-of-one percent tax to generate money for public safety.

Voters approved the tax in 2008 to help the University of New Mexico build a campus in the city center.

Now, the tax is bringing in more than needed and there’s a current balance of more than $3 million.

Meanwhile, Rio Rancho’s police department is seriously understaffed, 40 percent of its vehicle fleet has more than 100,000 miles on their odometers and pay rates aren’t competitive with those in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, according to Police Chief Robert Boone.

Wilkins said he would like to put his tax proposal before Rio Rancho voters in the 2014 municipal election.

Councilor Mark Scott said he wholeheartedly supports Wilkins’ tax idea.

Councilor Lonnie Clayton opposed the higher education tax when he ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2008 but says he now understands the city’s public safety plight and would be open to considering Wilkins’ proposal.