Tax hike if South Valley becomes city?

in two months, people in the south valley will vote on whether they want to form a new town. toni...  More »

in two months, people in the south valley will vote on whether they want to form a new town. tonight -- the county shared new numbers with us, showing it could take a lot more money than originally expected. kayla anderson is live to tell us why the group behind the movement isn't giving up. kayla? the final version of the county's numbers are due out next week. but we got an early look at the study. one county commissioner says services like those provided here at the westside community center could be on the chopping block. bernalillo county's numbers show the south valley would start off with a revenue shortfall of nearly 14 and a half million dollars. "it's abundantly clear that there isn't enough of a tax base here to have a government that would be able to provide the same level of government, that we the south valley-ans currently enjoy." bernalillo county commissioner art de la cruz says the county spends 30 million dollars for services in the south valley. "we spend more than we collect here." he says, if the valley splits away, taxes would increase. but the south valley incorporation group is firing back-- saying the county's numbers are wrong. "bernalillo county does not want the south valley to become it's own city." the group says valle de atrisco can operate on an 18 million dollar budget. "because of us being a new town, we would generate franchise fees- from different companies, cable companies, television companies." the new municipality would operate with minimal affing and a lean budget for police and fire- things like senior services, community centers-- even park maintenance-- would all be run by volunteers. "i've talked to some of the farmers down there that have the tractors that could also provide the park maintenance and they said they would do it- for a fee of course." the group maintains there would be no gross receipts tax increase for valle de atrisco-- contrary to what the county says. ballots for the new town will be mailed out in december.  « Less