Pop Quiz Extras: County Commissioner, Dist. 3

This week's Pop Quiz (a staple of our election series) features the candidates for Santa Fe County Commissioner in District 3—but as usual, we didn't have room for every question in the paper, so here they are:

Questions

1. What is the county's Gross Receipts Tax rate?

2. Last October, Santa Fe County adopted an ordinance to create a Renewable Energy Financing District. Explain how an REFD works.

3. Name two of the “Sustainability Principles” that govern the Sustainable Land Development Plan.

4. Where is the plan now?

5. Name two committees on which you would like to serve.

6. This Wednesday concluded a month of public outreach meetings on the Aamodt adjudication. What is it?

7. Name three divisions included under the county's Community Services Department.

8. What experience has most shaped who you are?

9. On Friday, the

Journal

reported that three county residents have filed a lawsuit alleging that too much public money is going to a private, commercial real estate developer in the Santa Fe Studios project. What's your take on the project?

10. What is the Santa Fe Studios project's projected annual revenue?

Candidates' responses and the Answer Key are after the jump.

Robert A. Anaya

, 41, Dept of Transportation Community Relations Director

1. I do not. The Gross Receipts Tax rate is different, I believe, in different parts of the county, but I believe it's around 6.25 percent, somewhere in that range. I don't know the exact amount.

2. I'm not familiar with the Renewable Energy Financing District, but if it is similar to assessment districts that the county's assessed in the past, then given areas, uh, pay respective fees associated with that particular area to help promote, in that case, uh, renewable energy. But I'm not familiar with that specific program.

3. Preservation of our environment and preservation of our water resources.

4. Ah, the Sustainable Land Development Plan is in public hearing phases and discussion phases. They've had, um, in the last month three meetings, I believe, reviewing, uh, the final plan that's been developed over several years.

5. Two committees that are advisory committees or two committees—uh, could you clarify what you mean? I sat on the Santa Fe County Road Advisory Committee, and I believe that's an important committee, and I also participated in helping set up the Health Policy and Planning Commission. Those are two important committees that Santa Fe County has that I would sit on. The [Santa Fe County] Fair Board, I guess, would be another choice that I participate in.

6. The Aamodt adjudication water settlement is a settlement agreement in the northern area between the tribal entities related to water usage and authorization of water rights. Uh, it's a settlement agreement that will help sustain the water resource in northern New Mexico.

7. The Health Services Division, the General Services Division and the Fire Department, I believe.

8. I believe the experience that I've had in my upbringing with my parents, my late father, Joe Anaya, and my mother Mary Ann, who taught me the work ethic that I needed and how to help people in the community. Uh, my education and my job experience was beneficial, but I believe the most important thing in my experience is what I learned from my parents and my family and my relatives and friends.

9. I haven't studied all the detail associated with every decision that the county made, but I believe, in this economic climate, it's important that we have opportunities for economic development and jobs. I think the studio will help bring jobs to the county, so I support the approval of that project because it will help us bring jobs to Santa Fe County and get people that are unemployed employed.

10. I do not know the expected yearly revenue, no.

David Bacon

, 61, energy consultant

1. Um, 6.75 percent.

2. Well, it just allows you to put—to pay for renewable energy, um, on your home based on your property tax, so it finances it over time.

3. Name what, now?...Well, um, sustainable energy and sustainable agriculture.

4. It's in flux; we're working on it. It's being, uh, it's being boiled down by county planning department and a group of citizens before it goes to the County Development Review Committee and the Board of County Commissioners.

5. On which I would like to serve? Well, um...probably the Renew Santa Fe Committee and, um, a green building committee.

6. It's the—it's the lawsuit that started in 1969 to adjudicate the water rights among the pueblos in Santa Fe County and the rest of the county.

7. Um...Community Services Department...hmm, let's see...let's see, um...you know, I don't really know.

8. Trying to change the energy picture in New Mexico and Santa Fe County to transition to a renewable energy economy.

And how has that changed you?

How has that changed me? It's made me an activist. It's urged me to run for public office. It's the inability—the seeming inability—of policymakers to make changes that are functional, that we need right now.

9. I think we need to look at it very closely. Um...I'm not sure that the county is—I'm for the project, but I'm not sure the county is well protected in that project. And in general, with the budget, the county spends a lot of money without looking into where it goes.

10. Revenue to the county...you mean above and beyond just paying back the loan?

Yes.

$20-30 million.

Angelica Ruiz

, 36, school board member

1. [pause]...6.5 percent.

2. Explain how a Renewable Energy Financing District works?

Right.

The Renewable Energy Financing District works such that renewable energy is the primary function for that district and the focus for that district, and its priorities surround renewable energy.

3. The first principle is that Santa Fe County is a diverse and historic landscape, so the community and the environment must be protected and enhanced without being subsumed by economic growth. The second principle is to protect and enhance the natural environment.

4. The current status of the sustainable land use plan...is at the community input stage. It will then go before the Board of County Commissioners for approval and then proceed on to the Board of County Commissioners for correspondent—corresponding ordinances' approval.

5. I would actually like to create, um, work toward support from the County Commission to create a family-friendly committee by which all ordinances would pass through to ensure that the ordinances that—and resolutions that we are passing, uh, have an assessment for their impact on our families and children in Santa Fe County, so I would like to serve on that commission—ah, on that committee. An additional committee that I would like to serve on would be the land use committee.

6. The Aamodt adjudication? ...That's a judicial proceeding that impacts primarily District 1 and that the County Commission has to review, and it was adjudicated, as you said, last week, and it involves a significant amount of community input and outreach, and I think that the most important thing that came out of that adjudication was the voice of the people.

7. Name three divisions under the Community Services Department? [27-second pause]...We have—one—one would be prior administration. Another would be...Parks and Recreation. Another would be Project Development.

8. My experience in pursuing my master's degree in business administration as a working single mother as well as my professional experience as a human resources director and including my experience as an elected official over the past three years.

9. Given the fact that I am currently a candidate for this position, it would be not be prudent of me to answer anything that could come before me as a County Commissioner, so I am unable to answer that question due to fairness.

10. What are the projected annual revenues from the Santa Fe Studios project? I think right now those revenues are subjective based on perceptions of the individual side of the issue.

Answer Key

1. 6.5 percent in most of the county, according to the New Mexico Department of Taxation and Revenue.

2. An REFD is a voluntary, opt-in program for residential and commercial property owners who wish to develop and use renewable energy on their property. The program offers long-term financing “with repayment accomplished by a special assessment on property tax bills,” according to the Santa Fe County website. The program's initial funding is expected to come from private capital; that may be expanded to include bonds and private equity.

3. The six principles of the Sustainable Land Use Development Plan are:

-Citizen participation

-Renewable energy, energy efficiency and green development

-Resource protection

-Smart, diversified growth

-Need for fiscal balance

-Economic growth

4. It's in the public review process. Several public workshops have been held over the months of February and March, and a final review of the consensus recommendations is scheduled for April 1.

5. The following are county committees/boards (among many, many others):

Road Advisory Committee

Health Policy and Planning Commission

Santa Fe County Fair Board

County Development Review Committee

Open Lands and Trails Planning Advisory Committee

Regional Planning Committee (charged with developing a county Land Use Plan)

There is no land use committee; there is a Land Use Department.

6. One of the longest-running US federal court cases and an attempt to adjudicate Pueblo and non-Pueblo water rights in the Nambé-Pojoaque-Tesuque stream system. A new settlement agreement has been proposed and is currently in the public comment/outreach phase.

7. The divisions included under the Community Services Department are:

Fire

Health

Housing

Teen Court

Health & Human Services

Property Control & Project Development

Community Projects/Open Space & Trails

Regional Emergency Communications Center (RECC/911 Dispatch)

10. $1 million a year, according to a study by the consulting firm Southwest Planning and Marketing.

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