Chaves County voters on Tuesday, Nov. 3, defeated a proposed local tax hike aimed at spurring economic development.
With all 65 precincts in Chaves County counted, a five-year, one-eighth of 1% local-option gross receipts tax, or GRT, was defeated 68% to 32%, or 9,726 votes to 4,501, according to unofficial results posted on the website of the New Mexico Secretary of State’s office. The results become official once certified by the State Canvass Board which is made up of the governor, secretary of state and chief justice of the New Mexico Supreme Court.
Had voters approved the proposal, the county would have levied an additional tax of 12.5 cents for every $100 of taxable gross receipts revenue generated from most business transactions, including the purchase of goods and services within the county, including the city of Roswell. The tax would have raised the existing local GRT rate from 6.27% to 6.39%,
Chaves County Manager Bill Williams said in August that based on fiscal year 2026 county revenue, the tax would have generated an additional $2 million annually. Money from the tax would have gone towards a county-managed fund for expenses related to economic development plans and projects meant to attract or expand new and existing businesses, cultural facilities and arts and cultural districts. The tax would expire after five years unless renewed by the county commissioners and voters.
Under the New Mexico Local Economic Development Act (LEDA), counties can impose a local-option gross receipts tax, or GRT, of up to 0.125% and municipalities up to 0.25% of 1% with voter approval.
The Chaves County Board of Commissioners voted 3-2 in August to put the question on the ballot for county voters in the Nov. 3 election, including Roswell residents District 1 Commissioner Dara Dana and District 3 Commissioner Herbert “Hub” Corn voted against the resolution. An ordinance allowing the tax to be levied also passed the commission by that same margin.
The Roswell City Council also sought in August to place a similar measure on the ballot for a 0.25% local options GRT. The Council voted 7-1 for a resolution that would do so, However, the tax was kept from advancing onto the ballot because the council accidentally voted to advertise the meeting for a public hearing instead of an ordinance containing the exact language for the local option GRT proposal.
Will Cavin, a former city councilor who is poised to join the Chaves County Commission at the end of the year, and was a proponent of the proposals, said he was disappointed in the outcome, but said he understood why people voted against it.
“I think we moved too fast on attempting to do this, and didn’t give ourselves enough time to educate the voters what this was all about,” Cavin said Wednesday in a conversation with the Roswell Tribune. Both the county and the city scrambled to get the question on the ballot before the Aug. 25 statewide deadline to do so.
Cavin and other supporters of the proposal said the fund would have provided a steady revenue stream that could be tapped by the county for site readiness and public works improvements to properties where companies are willing to locate. LEDA also allows funds to be used for grants, loans and public assistance.
Cabin advised that for any future efforts at creating such a tax, proponents should start to do so a year beforehand. They should also work to do a better job of educating the public about the proposal.
The tax, Cavin said, would have allowed the county to make improvements that could draw business and industry to the area, bringing jobs and local tax revenue to the county. He added that placing the measure on the ballot gave voters an opportunity to weigh in on an idea that could improve the county.
District 1 County Commissioner Dara Dana, who voted against placing it on the ballot said she was surprised by how decisively the measure was rejected.
“The voters spoke, they said we are taxed enough,” she said in a phone interview Thursday with the Tribune. Dana worried that the tax would have hit residents and small businesses at a time when prices are already rising.
Dana added that the process to get the proposal before voters was rushed and should have been done in a special election, with it being the only item on the ballot. She said that would have given proponents time to sell the idea to voters. She noted that the commissioners only held two meetings to get public feedback on the proposal, one of which was the regular commission meeting in which it was approved to get on the ballot.
In the future, she said, more should be done to explain the proposed fund to people and what it would do.
“You have to explain to the voters why they want to tax themselves,” Dana said.
