Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Note: This story has been updated with the county commission's canvass of the vote reaffirming the totals, and correcting the vote at San Jon to 35 in favor of the measure and 10 against. Early and absentee voting results were also added.
QCS Managing Editor
Quay County voters decided to impose a 0.25-percent gross receipts tax on county businesses to fund operations of the emergency dispatch system that serves Quay County and parts of Harding County.
The tax is expected to bring in about $370,000 to pay most of the $500,000 required annually to operate the emergency communications dispatch center, Richard Primrose, county manager, said.
The vote total countywide was 286 in favor of the tax increase and 251 against. In Tucumcari, however, the measure was opposed by 134 votes to 67 votes in favor. The measure won in all other polling places. On Wednesday, the Quay County Commission affirmed the totals in a canvass vote.
In House, voters favored the tax measure 17 votes to seven. In Forrest, the tax increase won 17 votes to two. In San Jon the measure was favored by 35 voters with 10 against, and Logan voters voted 85 to 26 in favor of the tax measure.
Early and absentee votes totaled 65 in favor of the tax increase and 72 against the measure.
County Commissioner Mike Cherry, who has advocated the tax, said that while nobody likes new taxes, “it’s unfortunate that to have services we have to tax to receive them.”
The separate tax to fund the emergency dispatch center will “free up general funds for the county to do other functions, ” he said.
Richard Primrose, county manager, said, “I’m pleased it passed. I’m glad so many voters supported the dispatch center.”
Tucumcari accountant Kelly McFarland, who spoke against the tax at the Sept. 11 Tucumcari City Commission meeting, said, “This is disappointing for the business community in Tucumcari. It’s going to have a negative impact on all Tucumcari businesses and citizens.”
Currently, the emergency dispatch center is financed by the city of Tucumcari and Quay County, which each pay 45 percent of the center’s costs, with the remaining 10 percent coming from the villages of Logan and San Jon, and Harding County. The city of Tucumcari operates the center. The city’s assistant fire chief, Scot Jaynes, is the day-to-day manager of the facility, which is manned by police department personnel.
Financing the dispatch center an independent agency with its own funding source would avoid raising taxes among other jurisdictions to fund needed improvements for the facility and make the facility eligible for other grants and loans, Larry Wallin, Logan’s village manager said.
The Tucumcari/Quay Regional Emergency Communication Board, made up of representatives from the agencies that use the system, currently oversees the central dispatch system, and, Wallin said, with the dispatch center independently financed, the board would have more direct control over the management of the facility.
