IAL 120407.

• Case Date: December 04, 2007
• Court: New Mexico

New Mexico Attorney General Opinions 2007. IAL 120407. December 4, 2007IAL120407Julie Maitland, DirectorAgricultural Programs and Resources Division New Mexico Department of Agriculture MSC APR / P.O. Box 30005 Las Cruces, NM 88003-8005 Re: Opinion Request - Soil and Water Conservation District's Authority to LevyDear Ms. Maitland: The Soil and Water Conservation Commission ("Commission") requested our advice regarding whether the Hagerman-Dexter Soil and Water Conservation District ("District") acted contrary to the ten-year limit on a district's mill levy authority. According to a letter from former Soil and Water Conservation Commissioner John Greene, "The [District] held a referendum to approve a mill levy in the district in 1988." The letter adds that in 1998 the Commission informed the District of the apparent need "to conduct another referendum before June 16, 1999, if they wished to continue to collect the mill levy. There is no record of such a referendum being held." Yet, "mill levy rate resolutions submitted by [the District] after 1999 continued to be approved by the [Commission]." Based on our examination of the relevant New Mexico constitutional, statutory and case law authorities, and on the information available to us at this time, we conclude that the District's actions were permissible because it collected the levy monies pursuant to a previously-enacted statute. The New Mexico Soil and Water Conservation District Act, NMSA 1978, Section 73-20-25 to - 48, specifies that a district may, by resolution and referendum, levy an assessment if the district is unable to bear the expense of the duties imposed upon it by the Act. See NMSA 1978, § 73-20-46 (1965, amended through 2003). When the District's mill levy was approved by referendum in 1988, Subsection A of the statute provided that "the supervisors [of a district], by resolution, and the district, by adoption by referendum, may levy an assessment. . . provided, however, an assessment shall not be levied unless, by July 15 of each year, the resolution of the supervisors has been adopted and approved by a majority of the district landowners voting at the referendum." See 1986 N.M. Laws, ch. 32, § 39. In 1988, the statute did not limit the effectiveness of an annual levy to a specific number of years. In 1989, Section 73-20-46(A) was amended to...