Home Care In Sunland Park, NM

SUNLAND PARK, N.M. (KVIA) – Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea said he discovered three Sunland Park bond questions weren't on the ballot for the November 2026 midterm election. Perea cast his ballot Friday, Oct. 30 -- four days before Election Day.

Friday evening, the City of Sunland Park announced the three General Obligation bond questions approved by city council won't appear on the ballot.

"I cast my ballot, and then that's when I reached out to the city staff and asking about, you know, why our questions weren't on there. And that's when things started rolling about. 'Hey, there might have been a mishap somewhere that prevented these questions from being included in the ballot,'" Perea said.

Perea said the sample ballot wasn't checked before Friday.

"I think the city confided in the fact that they had submitted the the election resolution with the ballot questions on time, and I guess there was confidence that that was the sufficient legal requirements to get that accomplished, and that my understanding is that there was no additional follow up on that," Mayor Perea said.

On Saturday, Oct. 31st, Doña Ana County released a statement saying the City of Sunland Park submitted a resolution and two ordinances to the Clerk's Office Recording & Filing Department.

"Placing a question on the ballot requires coordination with the Bureau of Elections, which prepares and certifies ballot content; recording a document with the Recording & Filing Department does not, on its own, initiate that process," the Doña Ana County statement said.

ABC-7 asked if the City of Sunland Park coordinated with the Bureau of Elections or just the Recording & Filing Department.

"Who has to do the coordination with the Bureau of Elections? I think that's the discussion that has to be had because under the statute, the statute only requires the entity to submit it for filing to the county clerk's office. The statute does not indicate that you have to go and coordinate with the Bureau of Elections. So I think that's the distinction between the two that has to be analyzed," Perea said.

The statute Perea referenced, NMSA 1978, 1-16-3(B), states, "The local government shall file a resolution proposing the ballot question with the county clerk of each county containing any precinct in which votes may be cast for or against the local government ballot question. Not less than sixty-seven days before the election, each county clerk shall certify the local government ballot question to the secretary of state."

Mayor Perea said his understanding at this point is that the City of Sunland Park didn't coordinate with the Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections.

When asked whose responsibility it is to submit that filing, Perea said it's ultimately up to the city manager, Mario Juarez-Infante.

In the Sunland Park statement sent Friday, Juarez-Infante said, "Residents were expecting to see these questions on their ballots, and we owe them a clear explanation. We are working to find out what happened and to give voters the chance to decide on these projects in the spring."

Mayor Perea said delaying the three bond questions on the ballot would delay funding for projects that were intended to start at the end of this year.

Perea said he believes the City of Sunland Park fulfilled its statutory requirement for the bond questions to appear on the ballot.

"The statute clearly says, you know, submit it to the County records for filing. It doesn't say, 'And go coordinate with the election department or go do extra work.' I think that's the struggle between the two," Perea said.

If voted in favor, the bond questions would have totaled $8.25 million. The three bond questions were:

Doña Ana County officials declined an interview ahead of Election Day. ABC-7 reached out with questions on where the statute specifies that Sunland Park should submit bond questions ahead of Election Day.

Caroline Zamora, Doña Ana County Chief Deputy Clerk, responded with the following statement:

On August 21, the City of Sunland Park recorded three documents with our Recording and Filing Department: a resolution and two ordinances. They were recorded like any other document, following standard recording procedure. Recording a document makes it an archived public record for future reference by interested parties. Filing the resolution with the Bureau of Elections did not occur. The Bureau of Elections received no communication of intention to include a ballot question for this general election and were first made aware of an issue on October 30th.

ABC-7 reached out to New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver for an interview. Lindsey Bachman, Director of Communications, replied with a statement:

Per state statute, the Secretary of State’s Office does not certify ballot content. County Clerks are legally responsible for ballot content certification to our office sixty days prior to a general election. We have not been contacted by the City of Sunland Park regarding this issue, and our understanding is that the City Clerk did not file a ballot question resolution with the Bureau of Elections at the Doña Ana County Clerk’s Office.

Public transit agencies across the country are confronting the same fundamental question: How do we transition to cleaner transportation while continuing to provide reliable, affordable service to the communities that depend on us?

For the South Central Regional Transit District (SCRTD) in southern New Mexico, the answer has been to think beyond the bus.

Our approach combines zero-emission vehicles, renewable energy generation, charging infrastructure, facility modernization and expanding regional transit service into a single strategy. At the center of that effort is the SCRTD's Sunland Park Mobility and Energy Hub, a facility that is becoming the foundation for SCRTD's transition toward a cleaner and more resilient regional transportation system.

What makes the project especially significant is where it is happening.

SCRTD is not a major metropolitan transit authority with thousands of employees and a multibillion-dollar capital program. We serve communities throughout southern New Mexico and provide regional connections into El Paso, Texas. Our routes connect rural communities, small cities, employment centers, colleges, medical services, downtown destinations and major transfer points across a large geographic area.

Yet many of the challenges facing our region are the same challenges facing the largest transit systems in the country: rising transportation demand, air quality, energy costs, fleet modernization and the need to build infrastructure capable of supporting the next generation of public transportation.

Building the infrastructure before expanding the fleet

The transition to zero-emission transit involves much more than purchasing an electric bus.

Transit agencies must address charging capacity, electrical infrastructure, utility coordination, maintenance requirements, workforce training, facility design and operational planning. For agencies operating long regional routes, vehicle range and charging strategy become even more important.

SCRTD recognized early that fleet electrification had to be accompanied by a broader energy strategy.

In 2025, the district acquired and opened its new headquarters and operations facility in Sunland Park, N.M. The approximately 7.5-acre property now serves as the operational center for a growing regional transit network and provides SCRTD with something it had never previously possessed: sufficient space to integrate transportation operations with energy infrastructure.

The facility includes administration, maintenance and vehicle operations functions, as well as charging infrastructure for SCRTD's growing electric fleet.

But the most visible component of the transformation is now taking shape immediately outside the buildings.

SCRTD is completing a major ground-mounted solar array and battery energy-storage project designed to help support the district's battery-electric buses (BEB), electric vehicles and facility energy requirements.

Rather than viewing the project simply as a solar installation, SCRTD views it as transportation infrastructure.

The solar array, energy-storage system and charging equipment are being developed as an integrated system capable of supporting approximately 12 BEBs and electric vehicles while also supplying energy to district facilities.

That creates a direct relationship between the energy SCRTD produces and the transportation service we deliver.

Sunlight collected at a transit facility in southern New Mexico can ultimately help power the vehicles moving passengers throughout the region.

Zero emissions where air quality matters

The environmental benefits are particularly important in the southern portion of SCRTD's service area.

Sunland Park and Santa Teresa, Texas, are located within the greater El Paso metropolitan area, a region facing significant air-quality challenges. Transportation investments that reduce tailpipe emissions therefore have benefits extending beyond the transit agency itself.

Every diesel vehicle that can eventually be replaced by a zero-emission vehicle represents another opportunity to reduce transportation-related emissions in communities where air quality is already a public concern.

SCRTD currently operates BEBs and electric support and passenger vehicles and continues to expand its clean-vehicle fleet.

The district is also pursuing additional battery-electric vehicles for new mobility programs, including complementary ADA paratransit service serving Sunland Park and Santa Teresa.

This is important because zero-emission transportation should not be limited to traditional fixed-route buses.

The same clean-energy strategy can support smaller vehicles providing paratransit, microtransit and community mobility services. For SCRTD, electrification is increasingly becoming a systemwide strategy rather than an isolated fleet demonstration.

Growth is driving the transformation

SCRTD's investments are occurring at the same time that demand for regional transit is increasing substantially.

The district began operating regional transit service in 2016. Since then, ridership has grown dramatically, as SCRTD has expanded its network and strengthened connections between communities in Doña Ana, Sierra and Otero counties in New Mexico and El Paso County in Texas.

For fiscal year 2026, SCRTD is projecting approximately 204,785 passenger trips, representing approximately 24% annual ridership growth.

Over the district's first decade, ridership growth has exceeded 900%.

Those numbers have changed the conversation about public transportation in southern New Mexico.

What began as a relatively small regional transit operation is becoming an increasingly important component of the region's transportation infrastructure.

Our passengers include employees traveling to jobs, students traveling to colleges and universities, seniors reaching medical appointments, residents accessing government and commercial services and passengers connecting to the larger Sun Metro transit network in El Paso.

The district's Yellow, Silver and Purple routes, for example, help connect communities in Sunland Park, Santa Teresa and Anthony with destinations and transit connections in El Paso.

As ridership grows, SCRTD is simultaneously preparing to introduce complementary ADA paratransit and microtransit services and to expand transportation serving one of New Mexico's most important employment centers, the Santa Teresa Industrial Park.

That means our clean-energy investments are not being made for a static transit network. They are being built for a system that is continuing to grow.

A different model for smaller transit agencies

There is a misconception that major transit innovation occurs only in the nation's largest metropolitan areas.

Smaller transit agencies can be exceptional laboratories for innovation because they often have the ability to connect projects that would otherwise be developed independently.

At SCRTD, fleet planning, renewable energy, facility development, passenger service and regional economic development are increasingly part of the same strategy:

It can produce electricity. It can store energy. It can charge buses and smaller electric vehicles. It can support maintenance and workforce training. It can serve as the operational center for fixed-route transit, paratransit and emerging mobility services.

And it can demonstrate to the community that investments in public transportation can also be investments in infrastructure resilience and cleaner air.

Preparing the workforce

The transition also requires investment in people.

Battery-electric vehicles introduce new technologies for operators, mechanics, supervisors and facility personnel. Charging infrastructure requires employees to understand equipment and operating procedures that were not part of conventional diesel transit operations.

SCRTD has therefore made workforce development an important component of its zero-emission transition.

Drivers and maintenance employees are being trained on BEB systems, and specialized manufacturer training is helping mechanics understand the charging and electrical systems associated with the fleet.

The objective is not simply to acquire new technology. It is to develop the institutional knowledge necessary to operate that technology successfully for decades.

That may ultimately be one of the most important lessons for agencies considering similar projects: the transition to zero emissions is as much an organizational transformation as it is a technological one.

Looking toward the next decade

The Sunland Park Mobility and Energy Hub is only one component of SCRTD's long-term capital program.

The district is also advancing development of a future transit facility on the East Mesa of Las Cruces, N.M., that is planned to accommodate buses, charging infrastructure, light maintenance operations and future service expansion.

Additional buses are being added to the fleet, including vehicles supported through competitive federal transit grants.

Together, these investments are creating a network of facilities and vehicles designed around the transportation needs SCRTD expects to face during its second decade of service.

Our experience in southern New Mexico demonstrates that zero-emission transit does not need to be limited to large urban systems.

Rural and regional transit agencies can participate in the clean-energy transition as well.

But doing so requires looking beyond individual vehicle purchases and asking a larger question: What transportation and energy infrastructure will our communities need 10 or 20 years from now?

For SCRTD, that question has led us from operating buses to building a mobility and energy system.

The solar panels rising above our Sunland Park facility are therefore more than another capital improvement.

They represent where the district is headed next—a regional transit system where mobility, renewable energy, clean air and community connectivity increasingly work together.

City officials say they filed the measures before the deadline, but the county says recording documents did not notify election officials. Sunland Park has requested an investigation.

Damien Willis, Organ Mountain News

SUNLAND PARK - The Doña Ana County Clerk's Office says Sunland Park submitted documents related to $8.25 million in proposed general obligation bonds for recording in August but never contacted the county's Bureau of Elections to arrange for the questions to appear on Tuesday's general election ballot.

The explanation, issued Saturday, Oct. 31, comes as Sunland Park officials seek an investigation into why three bond questions approved by the City Council were omitted from the Nov. 3 ballot. The city says it filed its resolution before the state deadline and wants a full accounting of what happened.

In a written statement, the office of County Clerk Amanda López Askin acknowledged receiving a resolution and two ordinances from Sunland Park on Aug. 21. However, the documents were processed by the county's Recording & Filing Department, which handles a different function from the Bureau of Elections.

"Placing a question on the ballot requires coordination with the Bureau of Elections, which prepares and certifies ballot content; recording a document with the Recording & Filing Department does not, on its own, initiate that process," the clerk's office said.

The office said a search of election records found no subsequent communication from the city, including its clerk's office, before the Aug. 25 deadline for local governments to file ballot questions.

According to the county, its Bureau of Elections did not learn about the missing questions until Friday, Oct. 30.

Sunland Park City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante sent a letter Saturday requesting an investigation into how the city's bond resolution was received, routed and handled.

The City Council approved Resolution 2026-85 on Aug. 18, authorizing three proposed bond questions. The county recorded the resolution Aug. 21 under Receipt No. 1109394, according to the city.

Sunland Park maintains that the filing occurred four days before the Aug. 25 deadline. The county does not dispute receiving the documents on that date but says recording them was not sufficient to initiate ballot placement.

The city's request calls for a written timeline supported by records, an examination of actions or omissions by either government and an assessment of available remedies. It also asks the county to preserve relevant emails, ballot versions and communications with election vendors.

Sunland Park requested an initial response by noon Monday, Nov. 2, preliminary findings within five business days and a final written report within 10 business days.

The city has not assigned responsibility for the omission. Its letter says that if an investigation establishes county responsibility, Sunland Park reserves the right to seek reimbursement for documented costs associated with a possible special election, to the extent permitted by law.

"We are government. We must learn from situations like this one, and we are all accountable," Juarez-Infante said in the city's statement.

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea told KFOX14/CBS4 that he discovered the bond questions were missing when he went to vote Friday.

"When I got my ballot, I realized that the city questions were not on the ballot," Perea told KFOX reporter David Ibave.

Perea said city officials were investigating what went wrong, including what he described as conflicting guidance about whether documents needed to be submitted to the state. He suggested a communication problem might have contributed to the omission.

The mayor's comments preceded the county clerk's Saturday statement explaining the distinction between recording documents and coordinating with the Bureau of Elections.

Perea also told KFOX that the city had money available to continue some projects but had counted on the proposed bonds to help advance them more quickly.

The three questions would have asked Sunland Park voters to authorize:

Each question would have been decided separately.

City officials say the bonds would be repaid using property tax revenue already being collected and would not require an increase in property taxes. The city also says the bond funding could help it pursue additional state and federal resources for projects.

Sunland Park plans to submit the bond questions to voters in a special election in spring 2027, although a date has not been announced.

The city's original election materials, including mailers and posters, advertised the questions for Nov. 3. Officials say those materials are outdated and are being corrected.

The general election will proceed Tuesday with all other races and questions unaffected. Residents who already voted do not need to take any action.

The county clerk's office said ballots were certified by the Sept. 4 deadline, sample ballots were available through the New Mexico Secretary of State's website beginning Sept. 20 and the official Notice of Election was published Oct. 13.

The clerk's office said it will work with Sunland Park and the Secretary of State's Office on next steps.

For now, the central question remains unresolved: Whether the city's Aug. 21 filing fulfilled its legal obligations or whether additional communication with election officials was required to place the measures before voters.

Sunland Park is posting updates at sunlandpark-nm.gov/go-bond. Voters with election questions may contact the Doña Ana County Bureau of Elections at 575-647-7428.

is founder and editor of Organ Mountain News. If you have a personal story to share or a lead we should follow up on, reach out at or connect with him on X at .

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UPDATE: The City of Sunland Park notified media outlets that the three General Obligation (GO) bond questions will not be on the November ballot on Friday, Oct. 30.

A spokeswoman from the City said staff confirmed the issue Friday and are working to bring the questions to voters at a special election in spring 2027.

According to the City, Council approved the questions on Aug. 15. Staff filed the resolution with the Doña Ana County Clerk's Office on Aug. 21.

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"The City has asked the County Clerk's Office for a full review of why the questions were not included," the spokeswoman said.

What does this mean for voters? The City provided the following:

"Residents were expecting to see these questions on their ballots, and we owe them a clear explanation," City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante said. "We are working to find out what happened and to give voters the chance to decide on these projects in the spring."

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) -- KTSM 9 News is your local election headquarters. Early voting will wrap up on Friday in El Paso County, while Doña Ana County will conclude early voting on Saturday. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

While there are several key races in New Mexico up and down the ballot, residents in Sunland Park will also vote on three questions pertaining to general obligation bonds totaling $8.25 million.

Here is how the three ballot questions will read:

Sunland Park City Manager Mario Juarez-Infante joined KTSM 9 News Anchor Andy Morgan on Thursday, Oct. 29, to discuss bonds and how they would impact the community.

According to the City of Sunland Park, approving any or all of the three questions would not raise property taxes. Instead, the bonds would be repaid with property tax revenue the City already collects.

"When you go out and vote, keep in mind that in 2022 there was a special mill levy that was overwhelmingly approved with 80 percent of the vote by the community," said Juarez-Infante. "So, by casting your vote on Tuesday, your property taxes will not increase. It will be a bond program that will continue to invest in the future of Sunland Park."

According to Sunland Park officials, approving $8.25 million in general obligation bonds would unlock up to $35 million in additional state and federal funding.

You can watch the full interview here. You read more about the City's GO bond here.

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTSM 9 News.

KFOX14/CBS4 spoke with Elizabeth Aguilar, community outreach coordinator at the Agua Dulce Community Center, about how the process works.

Destiny Venecia reports on El Paso County urges residents to submit state and county damage assessments (Credit: KFOX14)

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For residents without internet access or those who need additional assistance, the Agua Dulce Community Center is offering hands-on support.

Staff can help residents upload photographs, document property damage, and submit the required information to the state.

“We could go ahead and upload the pictures for them and take the damages for them and submit everything for them to the state,” Aguilar said.

Officials are also emphasizing an important distinction between the county's assistance process and the state's damage assessment.

El Paso County is collecting information to help connect families with immediate needs, including clothing, hygiene products and medication assistance. The state'sassessment, however, focuses specifically on physical damage to homes and property.

That means residents who have already contacted the county for assistance must still complete the separate state damage assessment if their property was damaged.

Holguin stressed that the two processes serve different purposes and that residents should submit their property damage information directly to the state.

“The residents have to submit the damage assessment to the state directly, and that'ssuper, super important, because we have to show a certain threshold of damage to property,” Holguin said.

She reiterated that county assistance does not replace the state's damage documentation process.

“These are two totally different things. We need to make sure that if their property, if their home was damaged, they're submitting the damage assessment to the state directly,” Holguin said.

County officials are encouraging affected residents to complete the assessment and seek assistance at the Agua Dulce Community Center if they need help accessing or submitting the online form.

The bottom line: Contacting El Paso County for immediate assistance does not fulfill the state's property damage assessment requirement. Residents with damaged homes or property should make sure their damage is documented and submitted directly to the state.

Damage reporting tool tutorials:

English / Spanish.

Individual State of Texas Assessment Tool (iSTAT) Damage Surveys

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