This week, SFR quizzes the four Democrats running for Santa Fe County Commission in the June 7 primary. In District 2, which covers the northwest side of downtown and Agua Fría Traditional Historic Village, Anna Hansen is attempting to unseat the incumbent, Miguel Chavez. Two candidates, Edward Moreno and Charles Dalton, are vying for the southwest area District 5 seat currently held by Liz Stefanics, who’s running for a Senate seat. In case you need a reminder, the rules for Pop Quiz are as follows: We record the entire conversation and report the answers verbatim. No research allowed, and if they call back later with the right answer, too bad. [Editor’s note: Although we haven’t explicitly said, “Don’t Google it” or “Don’t ask your colleagues for help,” most candidates generally play by those rules and answer quickly. One candidate this time might not have. Listen for yourself.
The Questions
- What is the population of Santa Fe County?
- Name three television or film productions shot in Santa Fe County in the last two years.
- Who is the largest private employer in your district?
- Name three ways the county collects revenue to operate.
- What is a Transferable Development Right?
District 2
MIGUEL CHAVEZ, the current County Commissioner for District 2, is running for re-election.
1. I would say it's hovering around 160,000.
2. The only one I'm going to remember is The Millers. I only remember one.
3. I'm trying to think. They all seem to be on the smaller side. I'm looking at the boundaries. It might take me awhile. The largest single employer? The hospital is outside of District 2. None comes to mind right off the bat on that one.
4. Property tax. Gross receipts. And then we have other revenue that would be grants or other GO-bonds that would be issued.
5. Transferable development right is a new feature in our sustainable land development code where a developer or even, I think, a larger property owner would set aside a portion of the development that would be dedicated to open space and transfer those development rights somewhere else. That's how I understand it.
ANNA HANSEN, co-founder of Green Fire Times, serves on a number of boards and commissions.
1. [13 seconds elapse] 147,000.
2. Okay. Longmire. [14 seconds elapse] Manhattan. Adam Sandler was in a movie. What was that? The Dirty Dozen. It was shot in Santa Fe. You only want shot in Santa Fe. The Manhattan Project.
3. [13 seconds elapse] Meow Wolf.
4. Gross receipt tax. Property tax. [Whispering: "Gross receipt tax. Property tax."] You're asking for tax. How they collect money. Okay, I have gross receipt tax, property tax. Withhold—no, not withholding tax. [Whispering: "Gross receipt tax. Property tax. There's one other tax."] Oh, real estate taxes.
5. What is a Transferable Development Right? [Whispering: "Transferable development right. Could that be water?" 28 seconds elapse.] You want the development right? Do you want—I'm a little bit unclear of what you're asking. [SFR: "That's the question. What is a Transferable Development Right? Three words—in caps, if that helps. Each letter is capitalized." Eight seconds elapse.] It's a voluntary, incentive-based program that allows landowners to sell development rights. To sell their development rights. [SFR: "Okay, but how come you weren't able to say that, like, 30 seconds ago?"] Because I had to think, I had. I mean one of—" [Five excruciating seconds elapse. SFR: "Um, okay. That works for me. Thank you very much."]
District 5
EDWARD MORENO is a former Associated Press reporter and state Senate staffer.
1. I believe it is approximately 90,000 people or so.
2. There was—what was it, the Twins movie? There was a TV series. The one with Adam Sandler. Not a fan of his. Lawbreaker? Yeah, Lawbreaker. [SFR: "Lawmaker, you said?"] Longmire.
3. In the district? I would say Santa Fe Community College. Or if it's not that, it's going to be the Penitentiary of New Mexico.
4. Well, there's lots of sources of income. Taxes, of course. Property taxes. There are fees that are paid to the county clerk for processing documents for real estate transactions. And various business fees imposed on businesses.
5. Well, this is a process in which a developer can develop in an area by buying the rights on the property where otherwise their building could not exist. You have to have a right to build anywhere, but if you don't have it, you can buy it from the owner.
CHARLES DALTON is a retired police officer.
1. The population of Santa Fe County is somewhere right in the neighborhood of 187,000 people.
2. I can't remember that space one. I don't watch TV, but the one with space. And then, Longmire of course. But I don't really watch TV that often, so you got me there.
3. St. Vincent's Hospital.
4. The taxes: property and gross receipts. They're right there in front of me. Gross receipt tax. Bonds, of course. Those are the only three that come to my mind, going down the road here.
5. That transferrable development right means that if someone wants to develop in a certain area, and that’s not deemed acceptable for whatever codes or whatever, happens to be, they can transfer that to another area, and continue or finish their project, maybe. So they’re transferring the right area to the other.
Answer Key
- 147,423 (2010 US Census)
- Graves, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, The Sixth Gun, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Stanistan, The Ridiculous Six, The Magnificent Seven, Longmire, Manhattan, We’re the Millers (partial list).
- District 2: Home Depot (180 employees), District 5: Santa Fe Community College (909 employees), according to the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce Community Profile and Membership Directory.
- Acceptable answers include property tax, gross receipt tax, franchise tax, lodgers tax, state shared tax, construction permits, business licenses, service fees, investment income, bonds.
- According to a factsheet from the University of Wisconsin—Steven’s Point, the first hit when one conducts a Google search for “Transferable Development Right,” it is a “voluntary, incentive-based program that allows landowners to sell development rights.”
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story gave the wrong name for outgoing District 5 commissioner.
