Commission: Hospital gross receipt tax appears on ballot

It’s not a new tax.

That is the key message that Dan C. Trigg Memorial Hospital officials and Quay County Commissioners want voters to hear before they vote on continuing the one-eighth percent gross receipts tax that raises about $200,000 a year to operate the hospital as a county facility.

Hospital administrators and county commissioners said they were concerned about the tax measure being misread as a new tax, because the tax will be on the ballot for a general election for the first time since the tax was first approved in a special election in 1987.

A new state law requires the consolidation of most local elections into general elections, and the hospital gross receipts tax must now be voted on amid local candidates and other local measures on Nov. 6.

The hospital is operated by Presbyterian Health Services, based in Albuquerque.

Dick Smith, administrator for Trigg Hospital and the Eastern Plains Medical Center in Clovis, told Quay County Commissioners Monday that public affairs employees at Presbyterian headquarters are working on a campaign to tell voters they are not considering a new tax but one that is necessary to keep the hospital operating..

The commission gave a first reading Monday to an ordinance that places the question on the ballot. Final approval of the ordinance is expected at a special meeting Aug. 24, County Clerk Ellen White said.

The commission also approved a “wish list” of Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan improvements for which the county hopes the New Mexico Legislature will allocate funds in its 2019 session.

The projects include reconstruction of two bridges on old Route 66, $3 million; improvements to the Quay County Detention Center, $300,000; improvements to Quay Road AR, $750,000; roof repairs at the Quay County Fairgrounds, $500,000; and improvements to Quay Road 63, $200,000.

Primrose said the bridge reconstruction project was not approved in the 2018 legislation even though “it was on the top of the list.”

In other action, the commission:

• Approved a $3,000 sponsorship for the 2019 Rawhide Days event scheduled for next May 1-6, but delayed action on whether to waive fees if Rawhide Days organizers locate the event at the Quay County Fairgrounds. Fees can be as high as $1,250 a day, County Manager Richard Primrose said. Commissioners said they would like to see a detailed agreement between the county and Rawhide Days organizers before approving a fee waiver.

• Approved spending up to $34,269 to Stantec, an engineering firm with an office in Tucumcari, to design road and drainage improvements on Quay Road AR north of Tucumcari.

• Approved the leasing of two motor graders for county road work for about $3,400 per month from John Deere Financial, a branch of the equipment manufacturer.