City of Santa Fe Seeks Hearing on Mansion Tax Lawsuit

City seeks hearing on real estate tax

City of Santa Fe officials have requested a hearing in the First Judicial District over their motion to dismiss the Santa Fe Association of Realtors’ lawsuit against a recently approved 3% excise tax on residential real estate sales. The so-called “mansion tax” applies only to homes sold for more than $1 million for the portion over $1 million, and was approved by 73% of voters during the Nov. 7 local election. SFAR’s lawsuit, which includes two homeowners as plaintiffs, was filed after early voting began, and maintains the tax violates state law. City Attorney Erin McSherry tells SFR a hearing on the city’s motion to dismiss is unlikely to happen before the end of the year, but she expects the new tax is still likely to take effect in May. “We are working with the internal departments like the Finance Department, in my department and the Office of Affordable Housing to move forward with the rules and the forms and all that type of thing,” she says. McSherry earlier this year drafted a memo that puts forth the legal reasoning behind the excise tax, as well as several charter amendments that appeared on the Nov. 7 ballot. SFAR’s attorneys, she tells SFR this week, are “reaching” in their legal arguments, which are based on state laws governing municipalities’ taxing authority and the recording of real estate titles by county clerks.

NM Securities Division warns of “pig butchering” scam

“As New Mexico’s senior population increases, so will financial abuse incidents,” New Mexico Securities Division Acting Director Benjamin Schrope says in a statement issued yesterday in a news release warning of “pig butchering” scams targeting seniors. Unlike the average scam, “pig butchering” victims “may receive a text message or voicemail from a wrong number that comes from an innocent-sounding person about a meeting or other social plan they may have,” the news release explains. When the victim responds, the perpetrator remains friendly and builds up a relationship, aka “fattens” up the victim in order to “butcher” them by taking their money—in some cases their life savings—through scams often involving crypto-currency. According to the Securities Division, the pig-butchering scam particularly threatens seniors and/or people with fewer contacts. By the year 2030, 32.5% of New Mexico’s population will be age 60 or older, and the state also will rank third in the nation in percentage of population for that age group by 2030. The FBI issued a similar warning this time last year and again in February, timed to Valentine’s Day. “All investors should be aware of pig butchering and how the scam steals your money over a long period of time,” Schrope says. “We are very concerned about the impact this scam has and want individuals to know what to look for and how to prevent falling victim.” Learn more here.

NM poison control sees uptick in Ozempic dosing calls

“What’s next for Ozempic” the New York Times asked yesterday, in a story that looks at the drug’s possible use in a range of conditions from “addiction and liver disease to a common cause of infertility.” Right now, Ozempic—along with Wegovy and other drugs that regulate blood sugar (diabetes medication, in other words) are driving a so-called weight loss revolution, among celebrities and regular folks. The drugs also have sparked a 1,500% increase to poison centers across the country, the University of New Mexico Health Sciences news room reports. UNM Health Poison Control Center Director Joseph Lambson recently published a case series on administration errors of compounded semaglutide reported to the poison control center in Utah. Compounded versions of the drug, the news story notes, which “may be dispensed as needles, syringes and vials…may be more difficult to properly measure and self-administer.” Lambson provides a Q&A on the topic and says New Mexico’s poison center has managed 23 calls about semaglutide this year alone, compared to only eight exposures last year. Of the calls this year, 78% involved incorrect dosing, “and a lot of these were individuals giving themselves 10 times as much of the drug or double doses. I think having so many different formulations available, and not necessarily receiving instruction on how to use it, set people up to potentially have these medication errors.”

End-of-year odds & ends

The state Department of Health yesterday revealed New Mexico’s top 10 baby names of 2023, with Olivia and Liam starting the list in the number one spot for female and male babies, respectively. Liam has been the top boy’s name for three of the last four years, DOH says. Other fun facts: Eight each of the top 10 girl and boy names from 2022 stayed on the top 10 list in 2023; Oliver and James fell out of the top 10 from last year and were replaced by Josiah and Julian—Josiah for the first time since 2017 and Julian for the first time since 2018. Evelyn did not make the cut this year.

The state Department of Public Safety, meanwhile, released its latest report on traffic operations at La Bajada Hill, where officers have made 1,129 traffic stops, issued 1,115 traffic citations (1,009 for speeding) and investigated one crash since the operation began Oct. 12. They made 53 traffic stops and issued 58 traffic citations (43 for speeding) in the last week alone.

The City of Santa Fe says the Santa Fe Teen Center has registered 417 teens and counting since opening in late Sept. 2023, and the Marty Sanchez Links de Santa Fe Golf Course has collected 163 presents for Children, Youth & Families Department children and families this year.

Lastly, the US Army Corps of Engineers Albuquerque District announced this week daily visitors to Abiquiú Lake will begin paying a $5 fee as of Jan. 1, as “throughout the region, visitation has continued to increase and the cost of maintaining recreation facilities has continued to rise with inflation.” Abiquiú Lake also will host its annual midwinter eagle survey from 9 am to noon, Saturday, Jan. 6, which remains free and open to the public. Volunteers are asked to meet at the Abiquiu Lake Visitor Center for registration beginning at 9 am; hot coffee and snacks will be provided.

Listen up

KUNM’s Let’s Talk New Mexico call-in show at 8 am this morning (89.9 FM and online) looks back on the biggest stories of 2023. Host and News Director Megan Kamerick talks with a bevy of journalists, including from SFR, about the issues that made headlines over the last year, such as: abortion access; education policies; housing affordability and homelessness; climate change; redistricting; and health care. Share your own thoughts on the top topics of the year by leaving a short audio message at the show link above, email LetsTalk@kunm.org or call in live during the show: (505) 277-5866.

In a perfect world

Lifestyle magazine Veranda offers up an itinerary for the “perfect weekend” in Santa Fe, with a trip that commences with a stay at Rosewood Inn Of the Anasazi, lunch at The Shed, dinner at Cafe Pasqual’s and a nightcap at Secreto Lounge. Saturday and Sunday lean a little more active with trips to the Farmer’s Market, the Dale Ball Trail system and a jaunt down Canyon Road (along with plenty more eating). Also on the perfect trip beat, while we don’t normally highlight advertorial, Bentley’s paid placement in National Geographic about its “extraordinary journey program” to New Mexico grabbed our attention (by way of digression, we’ve clocked a notable uptick in the mis-spelling of “Santa” as “Sante” in the national tourism press, as is the case in the Bentley ad, which we are attributing to AI, but may just be good-old-fashioned human error). “Designed with as much intricate detail and luxury as a Bentley car itself, the journey around vibrant New Mexico allowed guests to form new connections with the region and its people, while connecting with fellow explorers in stylistic elegance–a holistic experience on which it’s difficult to put a price,” Bentley writes. Difficult but not impossible. While nothing as tacky as a price tag for the New Mexico adventure seemed visible on the Bentley website, reporting last spring put the cost at an average of $27,755 per person for an itinerary that included a stay at Bishop’s Lodge, dinner at The Compound Restaurant and a trip to see Ra Paulette’s sandstone caves, among other outings. A highlight seems to have been a return trip from Taos to Santa Fe in a bespoke Bentley jet.

Turn some pages

We love an end-of-the-year book list the most of all the end-of-the-year lists, and a New Mexico-focused one particularly, such as this new roundup from New Mexico Magazine of “gift-worthy page-turners.” The books on the list run the topic gamut: New Mexico people, chile and poetry (to name a few key categories), and also reflect New Mexico’s literary publishing landscape, with titles from Museum of New Mexico Press, University of New Mexico Press, Radius Books and Casa Urraca Press. These include the memoir Breathing Stone: Living Small in a Southwest Village by Betsy James (Casa Urraca Press), which tells of her years living in Placitas; The Big Book of Hatch Chile by Kelley Cleary Coffeen (University of New Mexico Press), which includes 180 recipes, along with chile facts; and New Mexico Poetry Anthology 2023, edited by Levi Romero and Michelle Otero (Museum of New Mexico Press), which made Book Riot’s list of the eight best poetry anthologies earlier this fall. The list also includes several art-focused titles, including the Harwood Centennial: 100 Works for 100 Years by Nicole Dial-Kay, Emily Santhanam (Museum of New Mexico Press), which accompanies the Taos museum’s exhibition, through Jan. 28, 2004.

Snow on the mountain

The National Weather Service forecasts mostly cloudy conditions through mid-morning, then gradually clearing, with a high temperature near 47 degrees and north wind 5 to 15 mph. NWS early this morning issued a special weather statement, forecasting that widespread valley rain and high mountain snow starting Friday night into the weekend could produce “slick holiday travel.” The last storm, Ski Santa Fe reported yesterday, generated 15 inches; the Millennium and Tesuque Peak Triple Chairs will open for the first time on Friday, Dec. 22, at which point approximately 90% of the upper mountain trails will be open, Ski Santa Fe says.

Thanks for reading! The Word fell down a WS Merwin rabbit hole—”Dusk in Winter” feels particularly resonant—following Sara’s recommendation of the Merwin Conservancy’s newsletter.