Bond D’s defeat at the polls means state educational institutions won’t enjoy a sliver of $155 million — funds UNM intended to use for major capital projects.
Raising property taxes would fuel funding, said Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. She said universities have to ensure voters are aware of projects’ community advantages.
“I think higher ed in the state of New Mexico has enjoyed a long run of voter approval for these capital projects,” Cole said. “In this economy, the game is different now, and taxpayers want to know what it is the universities are doing and how it will add value.”
Election results won’t be certified until Nov. 23, but Acting President Paul Roth said in a statement that institutions will devise project funding alternatives.
UNM’s portion would have went to renovate the biology and chemistry buildings, build the College of Education Collaborative Teaching and Learning Facility, reconstruct Carrie Tingley Hospital, and start Health Sciences Center Health Education Center’s Phase II construction.
GPSA President Lissa Knudsen wouldn’t say whether she voted for or against Bond D, but she said voters made the right decision.
“I have faith in democracy, so I think the voters made the decision they made in part because they are concerned about the priorities of the University,” she said. “I’m not sure that New Mexico tax payers want to invest their resources into institutions that are not making education their priority.”
Melissa Vargas, strategic planner for the Provost, said the degradation of chemistry buildings has stunted research and faculty retention.
“That $10 million would’ve allowed us to really make some needed improvements so that we can start to rebuild the faculty in chemistry,” she said. “Over the last five years, they’ve had significant declines in faculty because the research space is not adequate to meet the needs of not only our educational mission with regard to chemistry, but the research mission.”
Campus planner Brook Finch said the defeat will cause problems, and voters weren’t aware of capital project needs.
“Its failure to pass leads to a number of setbacks in academics which, in this time of increased enrollment, is potentially detrimental,” she said. “Despite the advances UNM and others have made in facility efficiency, there must still be some residual distrust in the current overall system of higher ed.”
