January 7, 2026 | Press Release | View Letter
By Teresa Smith de Cherif and Pam Cordova
Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District has written to the Board of County Commissioners indicating that the “corrected” 2025 property tax bill, being replete with new errors, must be corrected.
Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District (Valencia SWCD) has communicated its concern that the duplication of mil levies on many taxpayers’ bills constitutes an increase in mil levy rates by Valencia County Government for three local public bodies and political subdivisions of New Mexico State Government—Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District, Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, and the Valencia County Arroyo Flood Control District—without the County having the statutory authority to raise or lower a mil levy rate at its own discretion, as stipulated in the New Mexico Property Tax Code and other statutes.
Valencia SWCD asserts in its letter that Valencia County Government must cease and desist from using incorrect names in reference to this District, given that it entered an entity that does not exist on the property tax bills, “Soil Water Conservancy.”
Valencia SWCD also asserts that Valencia County must not collect an additional cent more than what is statutorily required to be assessed and collected as this District’s ¼-mil levy.
Finally, Valencia SWCD demanded that the assessment for this District be calculated correctly, based on the net taxable value of property. This means the taxable value less any exemptions, as the New Mexico Tax Code and other statutes require. Valencia SWCD noted that Veterans were NOT accorded their exemptions when the Valencia County Assessor calculated the ¼-mil levy for Valencia SWCD. Instead, they were charged based on their taxable value, when they should have been charged based on their property’s net taxable value.
Valencia SWCD Board Chair Teresa Smith de Cherif and Board Treasurer Pam Cordova declared in the letter, “We will not accept Valencia County Government overcharging Veterans for the ¼-mil levy due to this District.” The letter also states that Valencia SWCD will not accept a cent more from Valencia County taxpayers than is duly authorized by its ¼-mil levy.
Smith de Cherif and Cordova concluded, “These egregious errors constitute a failure of oversight and execution of duties at multiple levels of Valencia County Government. Such failures cause the public to lose faith in local government. Surely, we can do better.”
For more information or to obtain a copy of the letter, contact Valencia Soil and Water Conservation District at (505) 402-8134 or email [email protected].