Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District board members impose new mill levy in county

Property owners throughout Valencia County will see an increase to their 2025 property tax bill.

With an unanimous vote, the board of directors for the Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District imposed a half mill levy via resolution at its April 24 meeting.

As per state law, the board can levy a tax of no more than 50 cents per $1,000 of net assessed value on property without seeking voter approval. Any additional property tax increases will have to be put on the ballot.

With the new property tax in place, a residential home in the village of Bosque Farms, for example, with a total assessed value of $197,218 and a net assessed value of $77,378 will pay an additional $38.69 in property taxes for 2025.

“I believe we should get the mill levy resolution approved and submitted to the appropriate authorities,” said newly selected VCAFCD board chairwoman Teresa Smith de Cherif at the meeting.

Smith de Cherif said when she drafted the resolution, she included a very detailed account of how the board was formed since it was “fraught with so many unforeseen circumstances I was concerned that if it was not captured in the resolution it could cause the tax to not be levied.”

Smith de Cherif told the News-Bulletin in a phone interview she estimates the mill levy will generate about $800,000 for the district per year.

In April 2024, Valencia County commissioners passed a resolution to put the formation of the Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District on the ballot for the Nov. 5, 2024, election. In August of that year, the district court ordered the question of the formation of the flood control district be placed on the ballot but separated the election of board members, making it a separate process done by court appointment.

In February 2025, the court appointed the five current board members — Wayne Gallegos, David Gardner, Danny Goodson, Mike Montoya and Smith de Cherif. Those five members will serve until the end of 2025 and all five board seats will be on the November 2025 ballot for the local election. The current members would have to run for office to remain on the board.

When she served as the vice chairwoman of the Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District, Smith de Cherif said that agency implemented a quarter mill levy, but “had a brick wall come up as three different (Valencia County) departments said they were not going to collect the mill levy.

“We knew we had the statutory authority, and I’m not going to propose to know what the county knew, but it cost us thousands in legal expenses to make sure the county collected the mill levy,” she said.

“I don’t want to see this happen to (the arroyo flood control district). It would set us back months and months. I think we need to get things in place so the board next year can function.”

Proceeds from the mill levy can be used for the district’s operational costs, planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of flood control facilities and improvements, including the acquisition of such facilities, according to the approved resolution.

Gallegos agreed, saying the board needs to be able to protect itself by having liability insurance, something it might have to take out a loan to pay for, as well as other operational expenses.

“We have to come up with money someplace and the only money we can look at is the mill levy,” Gallegos said. “It’s the intent of this board to do right for the people who have suffered for so long. It’s important to do things right but they are never going to be perfect. The monsoons are around the corner and when they hit, flooding becomes a highlight. It feels like we’re already behind.”

Smith de Cherif said revenue from the property tax wouldn’t start being disbursed to the district until January or February of 2026.

“We won’t see a penny this year,” she said. “If we don’t do it now, the next board won’t see anything until the year after that.”

NMDFA sets property tax rates on Sept. 1 of every year. The Valencia County treasurer’s office will send out 2025 property tax bills in Nov. 1, with the first half due by Dec. 10, 2025, and the second half due by May 10, 2026.

In other business, the board:

• Selected officers, naming Smith de Cherif as chairwoman, Gardner as vice chairman and Goodson as treasurer.

• Members also volunteered to serve on the three committees formed during the March meeting. Gardner and Montoya will serve on the governance committee, Gallegos and Smith de Cherif on public outreach and education, and de Cherif and Goodson on the finance committee.

• Delegated authority to the finance committee to pursue grant opportunities, with the caveat the board as a whole will have the final vote on whether or not to accept a grant.

• Delegated authority to the finance committee to review possible loans the district might be able to secure for expenses such as liability insurance and other operational costs, with the agreement that the consideration of any loans had to come before the entire board.

Future board meetings for the VCAFCD will be held at 6 p.m. on the third Wednesday of the month, at the Whitfield Wildlife Conservation Area’s education center, 2424 N.M. 47, north of the city of Belen.