Voters approve $186M in general obligation bonds

Voters approved more than $186 million in general obligation bonds to support everything from senior citizen centers and schools to the state crime lab.

Supporters say the funding is key to completing brick-and-mortar projects as New Mexico struggles with a budget crisis.

The largest of the bond issues that passed Tuesday will provide about $142 million for capital construction at colleges and universities.

An additional $7 million will go toward the construction of a new state police crime lab and expansion of the existing lab at the Department of Public Safety.

The state Board of Finance estimates that property owners will pay $9.34 annually on each $100,000 of a property's assessed value to fund the bonds over the next decade. That's the same amount assessed to property owners in 2015.