UNMH property tax funding on the ballot

The University of New Mexico Hospital gets about 10% of its budget from Bernalillo County property taxes. Voters will have the chance to decide in this year’s general election if the hospital mill levy should be renewed.

Every eight years since 1952, when UNMH was founded, Bernalillo County voters have decided to continue the 6.4 mill levy. The dollar amount the mill levy provides can change year to year based on the value of property in the county, but in recent years the mill levy has provided the hospital $120 million annually, according to hospital CEO Kate Becker.

“I think that the stability of the mill levy over many years and in those eight-year increments has helped us, because we can be really thoughtful about how we used that funding,” Becker said.

UNMH is the only hospital in the state with a mill levy tied to hospital operations and maintenance, Becker said. In many New Mexico counties, hospital mill levies are specifically tied to indigent care.

“But it’s important to recognize that our job, our mission, is to provide health care for New Mexicans and New Mexico regardless of your ability to pay,” Becker said. “So we still always take care of everyone. We always want to make sure that we’re providing care regardless of ability to pay. It’s just that our mill levy funding isn’t what supports that. It’s our overall clinical revenue that supports that.”

The mill levy helps pay for housekeeping, security service, food and nutrition service, electronic medical records and cyber security — and basics like heating, air conditioning and water.

More than half of the patients the hospital treats are from Bernalillo County, Becker said, but as a level-1 trauma center, UNMH serves the whole state.

“This is a commitment that county property owners have made for decades, and we want to be good stewards of those resources, and we want to provide the services the county needs, and we want to provide the care the county needs,” Becker said, “And we are so thankful that they continue over decades to give us that support.”