A. The county commissioners are authorized to impose a mill levy and collect annual assessments against the net taxable value of the property in a county to pay the cost of operating and maintaining county hospitals or to pay to contracting hospitals in accordance with a health care facilities contract and in class A counties to pay for the county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund pursuant to Section 27-10-4 NMSA 1978 as follows:

(1) in class A counties as defined in Section 4-44-1 NMSA 1978, the mill levy shall not exceed a rate of six dollars fifty cents ($6.50), or any lower maximum amount required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon a mill levy imposed pursuant to this paragraph, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property allocated to the county; however, if the county uses any portion, not to exceed one dollar fifty cents ($1.50), of the rate authorized by this paragraph to meet the requirement of Section 27-10-4 NMSA 1978, the provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 do not apply to the portion of the rate necessary to produce the revenues required, provided that the portion of the rate does not exceed one dollar fifty cents ($1.50); and

(2) in other counties, the mill levy shall not exceed four dollars twenty-five cents ($4.25), or any lower maximum amount required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon a mill levy imposed pursuant to this paragraph, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property allocated to the county.

B. The mill levies provided in Paragraphs (1) and (2) of Subsection A of this section shall be made at the direction of the county commissioners, but only to the extent that the county commissioners deem it necessary to operate and maintain county hospitals, to pay the amounts required in the performance of any health care facilities contracts made pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act and to provide for a class A county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund pursuant to Section 27-10-4 NMSA 1978.

C. In the event that the mill levy provided for in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section is not authorized by the electorate or the resulting mill levy proceeds are not remitted to the entity operating the hospital within a reasonable time period, any lease for operation of the hospital between a county and a state educational institution named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico may, at the option of the state educational institution, be terminated immediately. Except as provided in Subsection D of this section, in the event that the mill levy provided for in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section is authorized, an amount not less than the amount that would be produced by a mill levy at the rate of four dollars ($4.00), or any lower amount that would be required by operation of the rate limitation provisions of Section 7-37-7.1 NMSA 1978 upon this rate, on each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property allocated to the county shall be provided from the proceeds of the mill levy to the state educational institution operating the hospital for hospital purposes unless the institution determines that the amount is not necessary.

D. A class A county imposing the mill levy provided for in Paragraph (1) of Subsection A of this section may enter into a mutual agreement with a state educational institution named in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico operating the hospital permitting the transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund by the county pursuant to Section 27-10-4 NMSA 1978 of not to exceed the amount that would be produced by a mill levy at a rate of one dollar fifty cents ($1.50) applied to the net taxable value of property allocated to the county for the prior property tax year and also not to exceed the amount that would be produced by imposition of the county health care gross receipts tax.

E. The distribution of the mill levy authorized at the rates specified in Subsection A of this section shall be made to county and contracting hospitals as authorized in the Hospital Funding Act.

History: 1978 Comp., § 4-48B-12, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 83, § 12; 1986, ch. 3, § 1; 1991, ch. 212, § 13; 2003, ch. 285, § 2.

Cross references. — For classification of counties, see 4-44-1 NMSA 1978.

For joint county-municipal hospitals, see 3-44-1 NMSA 1978 et seq.

The 2003 amendment, effective April 8, 2003, substituted "27-10-4 NMSA 1978" for "4 of the Statewide Health Care Act" throughout the section; in Subsection C, substituted "or" for "and" following "by the electorate", substituted "may, at the option of the state educational institution" for "shall" following "of New Mexico".

The 1991 amendment, effective July 1, 1991, in Subsection A, made a minor stylistic change and inserted "and in class A counties to pay for the county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund pursuant to Section 4 of the Statewide Health Care Act" in the introductory paragraph and added the language beginning "however, if the county uses" at the end of Paragraph (1); in Subsection B, added "and to provide for a class A county's transfer to the county-supported medicaid fund pursuant to Section 4 of the Statewide Health Care Act" and made a related stylistic change; added "Except as provided in Subsection D, of this section" at the beginning of the second sentence in Subsection C; added present Subsection D; and redesignated former Subsection D as Subsection E.

Levy of tax for operation and maintenance of hospital leased to private corporation. — A tax could not be levied to maintain and operate a hospital that had been leased to a private corporation. 1958 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 58-225.

Levy of tax for operation and maintenance of hospital leased to private corporation. — The evident purpose of former section and 4-48-14 NMSA 1978 (recompiled as 4-48B-15) was to provide a means by which a county operating a hospital itself could pay for such operation. To construe those sections as allowing the county commissioners to use the funds authorized in former section for the purpose of supporting and maintaining a hospital owned by the county but leased to a private organization would have been in direct violation of N.M. Const., art. IV, § 31 and art. IX, § 14 and thus have made the sections unconstitutional. 1956 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 56-6426.

Mill levy funds used for indigent medical care. — Colfax County could not use mill levy funds to provide indigent medical care for its non-miner residents admitted to Miners' Hospital, a state owned and operated facility, where such funds were not proceeds in the county indigent hospital claims fund but instead were proceeds from another county fund. The county could, however, use any proceeds in the indigent hospital claims fund to provide medical care for indigent patients at the Miners' Hospital if they otherwise qualify. 1988 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 88-41.

Funds from levy for one hospital not to be used for another. — Funds generated by a mill levy approved specifically for the operation of one hospital may not be used to construct another hospital. 1981 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 81-30.