Aztec schools mill levy narrowly approved by voters on second try; could raise $1.3M

Aztec Municipal School District officials breathed a sigh of relief on the night of Tuesday, March 19, when the results of a special mill levy election for the district were tallied and showed voters passed the measure by a slim margin.

The unofficial results released by the San Juan County Clerk’s Office showed 1,350 votes in favor of the mill levy and 1,279 votes against it. That reversed the result of a November 2023 election when the proposed mill levy was defeated, with 701 citizens opposing the measure and 697 voting for it.

Evelyn Garcia, the district’s finance director, acknowledged that Tuesday was a good day for district officials.

“We’re just relieved and appreciative to the community for continuing to support us and for renewal of the 2-mill levy,” she said.

Tuesday’s election was a mail-in election, with all registered voters living in the school district receiving a ballot at home in February. Returned ballots had to be received by the county clerk by March 19 to count in the election, either by mail or by hand delivery.

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Supporters of the measure said the passage of the 1.886 mill levy would not raise property taxes, as it would simply continue the existing mill levy that has been in place for 20 years. They estimated it would raise $1.3 million for the district, which would be spent on facilities, software, technology, security, and science, technology, engineering and math education.

Nearly twice as many ballots were cast in this election as in the November election, when the first measure was defeated. A total of 1,398 people voted on the measure last fall, while 2,629 voters cast a ballot in the more recent election.

Garcia said she believed the mail-in nature of the election helped drive that increased voter participation this time around, along with the aggressive campaign supporters of the measure mounted on its behalf.

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“We did a whole lot of social media, we put out fliers and postcards, we did radio interviews and we had a town hall meeting,” she said, explaining that district officials spent a lot of time emphasizing why the mill levy continuation was needed and how the money would be used.

Warman Hall, the district’s federal programs director, said that his understanding was that voter turnout in special mill levy elections almost always goes up, and he believed the measure essentially got lost in the crowd during the November election, when it was on the ballot with several school board, city council and city commission races across San Juan County.

“Last time we did it, there were several questions on the ballot, and we heard from so many people in the community who were confused and didn’t know what the 2 mill (levy) was,” he said.

Supporters of the measure worked hard this time to educate voters before the election, he said, and that effort appears to have paid off.

“I think this shows the community does care about public school funding,” he said.

But Hall acknowledged that the vote was close again and that many voters in the district were not supportive of it.

“I think the district has some work to do to show people how important this revenue is,” he said.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 or measterling@daily-times.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription: http://bit.ly/2I6TU0e.

This article originally appeared on Farmington Daily Times: Aztec voters approved a 2 mill levy Tuesday in a mail-in election