A. The majority of the members of the governing body may enact an ordinance imposing an excise tax on any person engaging in business in the county for the privilege of engaging in business. The rate of the tax shall be one-eighth of one percent of the gross receipts of the person engaging in business. The tax shall be imposed for a period of not more than five years from the effective date of the ordinance imposing the tax. Having once enacted an ordinance under this section, the governing body may enact subsequent ordinances for succeeding periods of not more than five years; provided that each such ordinance meets the requirements of the County Local Option Gross Receipts Taxes Act with respect to the tax imposed by this section.

B. The tax imposed by this section may be referred to as the "special county hospital gross receipts tax".

C. For the purposes of this section, "county" means:

(1) a county:

(a) having a population of more than ten thousand but less than ten thousand six hundred, according to the last federal decennial census or any subsequent decennial census, and having a net taxable value for rate-setting purposes for the 1986 property tax year or any subsequent year of more than eighty-two million dollars ($82,000,000) but less than eighty-two million three hundred thousand dollars ($82,300,000);

(b) that has imposed a rate of one dollar fifty cents ($1.50) to each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property as defined in the Property Tax Code [Chapter 7, Articles 35 to 38 NMSA 1978] for property taxation purposes in the county and to each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of the assessed value of products severed and sold in the school district as determined under the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 32 NMSA 1978] and the Oil and Gas Production Equipment Ad Valorem Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 34 NMSA 1978] or has made an appropriation of funds or has imposed another tax that produces an amount not less than the revenue that would be produced by applying a rate of one dollar fifty cents ($1.50) to each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of net taxable value of property as defined in the Property Tax Code for property taxation purposes in the school district and to each one thousand dollars ($1,000) of the assessed value of products severed and sold in the school district as determined under the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act and the Oil and Gas Production Equipment Ad Valorem Tax Act. The proceeds of any tax imposed or appropriation made shall be dedicated for current operations and maintenance of a hospital owned and operated by the county or operated and maintained by another party pursuant to a lease with the county; and

(c) having qualified at any time under this definition shall continue to be qualified as a county and authorized to implement the provisions of this section; and

(2) a class B county having a population of more than seventeen thousand five hundred but less than nineteen thousand according to the 1990 federal decennial census and having a net taxable value for property tax rate-setting purposes of under three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000).

D. The governing body of a county described in Paragraph (1) of Subsection C of this section shall, at the time of enacting an ordinance imposing the rate of the tax authorized in Subsection A of this section, dedicate the revenue for current operations and maintenance of a hospital owned and operated by the county or operated and maintained by another party pursuant to a lease with the county, and the use of these proceeds shall be for the care and maintenance of sick and indigent persons and shall be an expenditure for a public purpose. In any election held, the ballot shall clearly state the purpose to which the revenue will be dedicated, and the revenue shall be used by the county for that purpose.

E. The governing body of a county described in Paragraph (2) of Subsection C of this section shall, at the time of enacting an ordinance imposing the rate of the tax authorized in Subsection A of this section, dedicate the revenue for county ambulance transport costs or for operation of a rural health clinic. In any election held, the ballot shall clearly state the purposes to which the revenue will be dedicated, and the revenue shall be used by the county for those purposes.

F. Any ordinance enacted under the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall include an effective date of either July 1 or January 1 in accordance with the provisions of the County Local Option Gross Receipts Taxes Act.

G. The ordinance shall not go into effect until after an election is held and a simple majority of the qualified electors of the county voting in the election votes in favor of imposing the special county hospital gross receipts tax. The governing body shall adopt a resolution calling for an election within seventy-five days of the date the ordinance is adopted on the question of imposing the tax. The question may be submitted to the qualified electors and voted upon as a separate question in a general election or in any special election called for that purpose by the governing body. A special election upon the question shall be called, held, conducted and canvassed in substantially the same manner as provided by law for general elections. If the question of imposing a special county hospital gross receipts tax fails, the governing body shall not again propose a special county hospital gross receipts tax for a period of one year after the election. A certified copy of any ordinance imposing a special county hospital gross receipts tax shall be mailed to the department within five days after the ordinance is adopted in any election called for that purpose.

H. A single election may be held on the question of imposing a special county hospital gross receipts tax as authorized in this section on the question of imposing a special county hospital gasoline tax as authorized in the Special County Hospital Gasoline Tax Act [Chapter 7, Article 24B NMSA 1978] and on the question of imposing a mill levy pursuant to the Hospital Funding Act [Chapter 4, Article 48B NMSA 1978].

History: Laws 1987, ch. 45, § 3; 1992, ch. 80, § 2; 1978 Comp., § 7-20-21, amended and recompiled as 1978 Comp., § 7-20E-13 by Laws 1993, ch. 354, § 13; 1994, ch. 101, § 8; 2000, ch. 68, § 1.

The 2000 amendment, effective March 6, 2000, in Subsection C(2), substituted "1990" for "most recent" and substituted "three hundred million dollars ($300,000,000)" for "two hundred million dollars ($200,000,000)"; added the internal reference near the beginning of Subsection D; and added Subsection E, redesignating the remaining subsections accordingly.

The 1994 amendment, effective July 1, 1994, substituted "votes" for "vote" in the first sentence in Subsection F; and in the second sentence in Subsection F, substituted language from "adopt" to the end of the sentence for "provide for an election on the question of imposing the tax within sixty days after the date the ordinance is adopted".

The 1993 amendment, effective July 1, 1993, renumbered this section and rewrote it to the extent that a detailed comparison is impracticable.