Proposed Santa Fe “Mansion Tax” Would Raise Funds for Affordable Housing

Santa Fe to consider “mansion tax” for affordable housing

A proposal to tax high-end real estate—i.e. create a “mansion tax”—to help pay for affordable housing will make its debut at today’s 5 pm Quality of Life Committee meeting. Sponsored by city Councilors Jamie Cassutt and Renee Villarreal, the proposed High-End Excise Tax for Affordable Housing Ordinance notes that lower-income renters are leaving the city and are being replaced with higher income renters. Specifically, between 2015 and 2021, the share of renters with income below $25,000 decreased from 37% to 24%, while the share of renters with income over $75,000 increased from 18% to 30%. Moreover, a large percentage of the community’s workforce who are renting cannot afford to buy and “even higher-income residents are not transitioning into homeownership because of high housing sales prices and other market conditions.” Finally, the Affordable Housing Trust Fund “requires, but currently lacks, a meaningful dedicated source of revenue.” The ordinance—which would require voter approval—would impose a 3% excise tax on properties sold for more than $1 million by the purchasers, with the first $1 million not subject to the tax. Affordable housing advocate Daniel Werwath tells the Santa Fe New Mexican the proposal is “long overdue...I think we’ve seen an exponential increase in million-dollar homes in the last few years when homes for regular people have disappeared. It ties solving the problem to the people who are creating the problem.” Los Angeles voters approved a tax on homes listed at more than $5 million, which went into effect in April, and was intended to raise funds for homelessness but has reportedly been stymied by opposition.

City submits outstanding 2021 audit

Following a state-required exit-audit conference, The City of Santa Fe on June 30—the end of the 2023 fiscal year—delivered its long-awaited 2021 audit to the state auditor’s office, according to a Monday news release. The submission comes more than a year after State Auditor Brian Colón’s April 2022 declaration that his office would be “intervening” in the city’s finances in the wake of accounting firm CliftonLarsonAllen’s withdrawal from completing the city’s pending 2021 audit due to $4 million to $5 million in cash that remained un-reconcilable. In addition to the 2021 audit, at the time, the city’s 2020, 2019 and 2018 audits also were late. Nonetheless, the city appears to have made progress in its fiscal situation: An independent rating agency last month affirmed the city’s bond ratings with a stable outlook, and removed the city from CreditWatch. Following Friday’s submission of the 2021 audit, the state auditor will review the audit before releasing it for public inspection, a city news release says. “I am proud of the hard work that our dedicated team put in to achieve this important milestone,” City Finance Director Emily K. Oster said in a statement. “Submitting the Fiscal Year 2021 audit to the State Auditor’s Office is a key step towards achieving our goal of timely and accurate financial reporting.”

Gov proposes new clean car rules

Back in April, US Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, along with environmental groups, rebuked Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for vetoing several climate-change related bills, including tax rebates for electric vehicles. On Monday, the governor announced new proposed rules known as Advanced Clean Cars and Advanced Clean Trucks, aimed at increasing the state’s sales of zero emission cars and trucks. “These rules will speed up much-needed investment in New Mexico’s electric vehicle and clean hydrogen fueling infrastructure, create new job opportunities and, most importantly, result in cleaner and healthier air for all New Mexicans to breathe,” the governor said in a statement. According to a news release from the governor’s office, the rules will require vehicle manufacturers to “deliver cleaner vehicles to New Mexicans and drastically cut smog-forming nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter emissions (PM) from conventional gas and diesel engines.” The clean vehicle rules complement the existing Clean Cars rule adopted by the Environmental Improvement Board and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo Air Quality Control Board in 2022. “These new rules will ensure that all New Mexicans have access to a greater number of new zero and low-emission vehicle models, while hastening the transition away from polluting diesel and gasoline-powered cars and trucks,” Environment Department Cabinet Secretary James Kenney said in a statement. “We look forward to engaging with all New Mexicans on these proposed rules in the coming months.”

Court approves Khalsa’s resignation

The New Mexico Supreme Court on Monday officially accepted a motion to remove Santa Fe County Magistrate Judge Dev Khalsa from his position, more than a month since he said he would step down. The order effectively accepts his resignation and requires Khalsa issue an official letter of resignation to the presiding First Judicial District Court judge and the high court’s chief justice by the end of the day. (Court spokesman Barry Massey confirms Khalsa did so). Khalsa’s resignation follows his drunk-driving arrest last February after he allegedly rolled his SUV on the northbound St. Francis Drive off-ramp from I-25. His criminal case remains pending in Santa Fe Municipal Court. Police declined to pursue a charge of aggravated DWI because officers never asked him to submit to a breath test. Khalsa has refused interviews with SFR, but has maintained his innocence through his criminal defense attorney. Khalsa’s next status hearing in that case is scheduled for July 12. As for mag court, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will now choose Khalsa’s successor from a list of 10 possible replacements, including the three people who ran against Khalsa in last year’s Democratic primary: Melissa Mascareñas, John Baca and Michael Roybal.

Listen up

On a recent episode of The Nation magazine’s Start Making Sense podcast, journalist Amy Littlefield reports on abortion access a year after the repeal of Roe v. Wade, discussing what she calls the “abortion borderland” between Texas and New Mexico—a liminal area characterized by one state that severely restrictions abortion access (Texas) and one that has extended itself to protect abortion access (that would be New Mexico). “New Mexico has really gone to great lengths not only to just defend the status quo, but to say, ‘We are going to make sure that we’re an abortion haven, and we are going to try to do everything we can to ramp up care and take care of people who are coming from other states,’” says Littlefield, who also discussed her reporting in Texas and New Mexico for The Nation on C-Span’s Washington Journal program.

Real talk

The New Mexico Humanities Council has a call out and an extended deadline for “humanists, scholars, thought leaders and speakers” interested in presenting or facilitating a discussion for its “United We Stand: Connecting Through Culture” speaker series, part of a new National Endowment for the Humanities initiative intended to “leverage the arts and humanities against the rising tide of hate-motivated violence in America,” a news release says. For its part, NMHC is creating a “special edition” catalog of speakers in order “to provide New Mexico communities—especially rural and underserved communities—with the opportunity to learn about the components of hate-motivated violence and the importance of cross-cultural understanding.” A news release notes NMHC is particularly interested in topics related to the histories of domestic extremism, hate-based violence, inter-racial and inter-ethnic cooperation, and peace activism in New Mexico. “The arts and humanities have always been an avenue for acknowledging and expressing pain, coming to terms with that pain, and building support networks for survivors,” NEH Chair Shelly C. Lowe said in a statement about the national program. “In moments of loss and tragedy, we come together to both create and turn to art, poetry, music, literature for solace and healing.” To apply for New Mexico’s project, fill out the application here and send completed proposals by July 14 to Speakers Bureau manager Keelyn Byram at keelyn@nmhumanities.org with “United We Stand application” in the subject line.

Get the dirt

Dirt magazine, which describes itself as “a tongue-in-cheek glimpse into the real estate transactions of high-profile and high-net worth people across a broad spectrum of industries and professions,” turns its view to Santa Fe. Well, Galisteo anyway, specifically one of the “community’s oldest structures…an adobe pueblo once owned by one of Galisteo’s founding families” (we were unable to ascertain to whom that reference pertains, but another story about the property dates its oldest section to 1750, whereas numerous pueblos were in the area long before that). Currently on the market for $2.1 million, the property has been in the hands of painter and “fashion/lifestyle photographer” Dani Brubaker since she purchased it in 2021. She then reportedly revamped the house with help from Mexico-based designer and artist Patricia Larsen. As Dirt points out, the website Remodelista documented that process last month. That $2.1 million buys a 3,733-square-foot residence with “numerous kiva-style fireplaces, whitewashed vigas ceilings, quartz countertops, high end Viking and SMEG appliances, Noguchi pendant lanterns, bathroom fixtures designed by John Pawson for Cocoon, and a door embellished with designs painted by Fremont Ellis, a founding member of Santa Fe modernist art society Los Cinco Pintores.” With the exception of the door, “the home’s interior adheres to a muted color palette in the beige/cream/oatmeal/taupe spectrum.” As for Brubaker, according to Remodelista, she bought the property when she was “upended by the pandemic and ready to leave LA,” and “had intended to make the place her home base for years to come, but due to an unforeseen family development, she has to be in Austin” and thus it’s for sale again.

Heat of the moment

The National Weather Service forecasts another sunny day, with a high temperature near 94 degrees and north wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Hot temps statewide continue well into next week.

Thanks for reading! The Word is trying to keep cool—and looking at photos of other people doing the same.