New Mexico

Decision instrument

State general obligation debt needs a law for one stated object, a tax that pays it within 50 years, a majority of the votes, and it may not push the total over 1% of assessed value.

What public act authorizes the borrowing, and where is the purpose and the first-year cost written down? New Mexico Constitution, Article IX, Section 8. The law has to be printed in a newspaper in each county, once a week for four weeks, before a general election. The 1% is of the assessed value on the preceding general assessment. Debts the state assumed from the territory and the counties are outside that count. A lease of a building with an option to buy is not a debt if it meets the conditions in that section.

Debt statement

No Annual Debt Statement of the New Jersey kind.

What yearly filing states gross debt, deductions, and how close the issuer is to its limit? State debt is in the annual report for the year ended June 30, 2025, Note 8. County dollar rows are not attached.

Debt limit

A county, city, or town stops at 4% of taxable property. Bonds over that line are void. A city may go past it for water or a sewer.

What cap binds a county or a city, and is the state's own ceiling a different rule? Constitution, Article IX, Section 13. The value is the last assessment for state or county taxes. A city debt, under Section 12, needs an ordinance that cannot be repealed until the debt is paid, a tax of not more than 12 mills, and a majority of the qualified electors who paid a property tax in the preceding year. The principal has to be paid within 50 years.

Conflict rule

A public officer may not take an official act for the primary purpose of increasing the officer’s own financial interest.

Which ethics statute covers local officers, what counts as an interest, and who is left out? Governmental Conduct Act, Section 10-16-4. A knowing and willful violation is a fourth-degree felony. The officer is also disqualified from an official act that directly affects that interest, unless the officer’s benefit is proportionately less than the benefit to the public. A financial interest is an ownership interest in a business or in property, or a job the officer is already negotiating. A separate definition, substantial interest, means ownership greater than 20%. That percent is not the test in the disqualification section.

Geography

Thirty-three counties.

What is the county-equivalent, and which cities, schools, and authorities must not be pasted onto that row? FIPS 35001 through 35061. Cibola is 35006 and Los Alamos is 35028. Cities and school districts also borrow. Dollar rows stay blank.

Primary money record

General obligation bond principal: $558.775 million. The 1% schedule uses a different $390.059 million.

Which audited report is the state's own number, and as of what date? Annual report, Note 8, June 30, 2025, in thousands. Governmental general obligation bonds payable are $558,775. They pledge the full faith and credit of the state. The series table adds to that total, including a Series 2025 of $210,960 dated July 20, 2025. The note still puts that series in the June 30 balance. Business-type general obligation bonds are $16,770 more, and they are not in the $558,775. Unamortized premium on the governmental bonds is $50,027. The legal-debt-margin schedule counts only $390,059 of general obligation bonds against a limit of $1,340,948, which is 1% of a net taxable value of $134,094,781. The margin left on that schedule is $950,889. The report does not say why $390,059 is not $558,775. The management discussion says bonded debt fell $522.6 million and that no new bonds were issued. Note 8 shows $210,960 of new general obligation bonds and $235,100 of new severance tax bonds in the same year.

Who pays the coupon

In fiscal 2026 the general obligation bonds need $100.830 million of principal and $24.756 million of interest.

Which fund, tax, or rate is actually pledged — not which new store might show up later? Note 8 debt-service table, year ending June 30, 2026. The note says the property tax that pays these bonds is levied by the local governments that received the capital money. The letter at the front of the same report says the bonds are repaid from a dedicated statewide property tax. Those are two descriptions. They are not combined here.

Other obligors

Severance tax bonds: $1.160 billion. Governmental revenue bonds: $634.959 million. Do not add either to the $558.775 million.

Which authorities and districts borrow beside the state and must not be added to its total? Note 8. Severance tax bonds payable are $1,159,855 thousand. They are paid from taxes on minerals, oil, and gas, not from the property tax. In the year ended June 30, 2025, the bonding fund received $216.6 million of those taxes and paid $166.3 million of principal and $50.3 million of interest. Governmental revenue bonds and loans payable are $634,959 thousand. Business-type revenue bonds in the same note are $554,133 thousand.

Book-entry wall

Cede & Co., at the Depository Trust Company.

Who is the registered owner on ordinary public paper? Series-level confirmation still waits on that official statement. Beneficial owners stay unnamed.