Voters to decide on flood district

One question on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election is “yes” or “no” to forming the Valencia County Arroyo Flood District.

Since flooding has traditionally come from the arroyos that run down off the east and west sides of the county, rather than from the Rio Grande in the valley, the proposed flood control district will only address flood abatement of the arroyos.

The formation of an arroyo flood district would create an agency that could take on the operation and maintenance of flood control infrastructure of a proposed flood mitigation project in the Belen watershed, which has federal funding attached.

In April, the Natural Resources Conservation Service updated the community on a project entering the design phase to construct flood control infrastructure for an area of about 250,000 acres south of the city of Belen.

The cost of the NRCS flood control project is estimated at more than $25 million, with the conservation service willing to take on the construction of the project. There needs to be an agency willing to take on ownership of the completed project and maintain the infrastructure, both of which a arroyo flood control district could do.

The question on the ballot is just on the formation of a district.

If the voters approve the district, a five-member board of directors would be appointed by a district court judge. When the Valencia County commissioners approved the petition to form the district initially, the selection of the board was supposed to be on the ballot as well.

However, after the secretary of state intervened in the formation process of a similar flood control district in Sierra County, the Seventh Judicial District Court granted an order essentially separating the two actions — leaving the question of whether to form the district on the November 2024 ballot and pushing the election of a board to the November 2025 local election, if the district was indeed formed.

The county commission erred on the side of caution and amended its district court petition to request just the formation of the district be put on the ballot and the election of a board be put on the ballot in the next local election in November 2025.

The judge granted the amended order on Friday, Aug. 9, and it says the court will temporarily appoint a flood control district board of directors, if it’s approved, 30 days after the district’s organization.

A deadline for qualified candidates to submit their names for consideration will be specified at a later time.

The board members would be at-large, meaning they would not be assigned to or selected from specific districts within Valencia County.

If formed, the district would include and have jurisdiction and taxing authority in the entirety of Valencia County, both incorporated and unincorporated areas.

One authority a flood control board has is the ability to impose property taxes. The board of directors can impose a half mill levy — a property tax of 50 cents per $1,000 of taxable value — without a public vote, and any future flood district mill levy increases would have to go to the voters for approval. The appointed board would have the authority to impose the half mill.

If the district is approved by voters and a board is appointed by the court, members would take office in January 2025 and serve until the November 2025 local election.

The appointed members could choose to file to run to retain their seats, and an elected board would have to draw lots to determine a proper election rotation, meaning some would serve for two years while others would serve for four.

As a political subdivision of the state, the new district would be subject to the state’s Open Meetings Act and Inspection of Public Records Act.