A. Upon the establishment of a county predator control program, the board of county commissioners shall order a special levy of a tax in the form of a mill levy that will produce not more than the rate limitation set on the petition and not more than one dollar ($1.00) per head on all animals in the county to be protected under the county predator control program. This special levy shall be over and above any other special levies and shall not be construed to be within the constitutional twenty-mill limitation. The proceeds of this special levy shall be deposited with the county treasurer for expenditure upon order of the county predator control board and shall be spent, during the existence of the program, solely for predator control.

B. The amount of the levy shall be stated on the petition, and the county predator control board shall certify it to the board of county commissioners on or before the first Monday in August following its appointment. The special levy shall be assessed, levied and collected as other taxes in the county and at the expense of the county.

C. The owners of fifty-one percent of the animals assessed under the County Predator Control Act [77-15-6 to 77-15-14 NMSA 1978] may require a change in the amount of the levy within the statutory limit by petitioning the county predator control board on or before the first Monday of July of any year.

D. Any owner of dairy animals or of feedlot animals being fattened on full feed for slaughter and which animals are included in the animals on the tax rolls for this special assessment may have these animals excluded from the special assessment by filing a certified statement containing the description and count of the animals with the board of county commissioners prior to September 1 of the year in which the tax is assessed.

History: 1953 Comp., § 47-16-11, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 92, § 6; 2005, ch. 233, § 1.

The 2005 amendment, effective June 17, 2005, increased the special levy in Subsection A from twenty-five cents to one dollar per head on all animals in a county protected under the county predator control program.