“What is this sham with our new tax bills? Northern Rio Rancho residents were told that the CNM tax would be $119 per $100,000 of taxable value. The taxable value is one-third of the full value of your residence. That would mean a tax rate of 1.19, not 2.990. That is not what showed up on my tax bill. What I believed would be $187 is over $470. We have been duped by all these bonds. Wait until everyone sees what UNM is going to cost them. My property tax bill will go up over $1,000 in a two-year period. What I don’t understand is why everyone votes for these things. Albuquerque and Rio Rancho both spend funds unnecessarily and then claim poverty. I came here to retire but it looks like I will have to take a job just so I can pay property taxes.”

“It seems like when Jim Palenick was in charge, the city was moving forward. Then the council booted him, paid him $100K and now all of the groundwork he set up has faded into nothing with cancelled projects everywhere. Could it be the economy? The exorbitant impact fees? Or the lack of vision by the new leadership? What the city needs to do is leverage its resources (lots of vacant land and plentiful sunshine) to get into the business of solar power generation. That way it can produce revenue without taxing the tapped-out residents.”

“I’m just glad we got out of Rio Rancho when we did. I still have troubling thoughts of whoever thought of putting that dinosaur called City Hall out in the middle of nowhere. Who thinks this is really going to become downtown Rio Rancho? Adios, Rio Rancho.” “Smooth move, city of Rio Rancho. You have now left 5,000 of your citizens without access to the Internet by putting Roadrunner Wireless out of business. It never had anything to do with the safety issue of the tower, it was pure greed. Since Roadrunner did not have to pay the city their franchise fee, the city decided to put them out of business. Not only has the city’s decision affected citizens, it affected many small businesses. We can find other service companies, at twice the cost (minimum), but the city in its wisdom has been unable to get the Internet up and running over a period of five years. This just goes to show what idiots our elected officials are.”

“On Monday, Nov. 3, I witnessed a woman let her cart go (she did not notice) all the way down the parking lot at Albertsons — picking up speed — and hit a maroon pickup truck very hard. Another woman let her know what had happened. The woman did not thank the other woman — she proceeded to call her a bad name and told her to shut up and mind her own business. This other woman had her kids in the car ... what is wrong with people? I am glad the other woman spoke up. Too many of us look the other way.”

“How many people have to quit their jobs at Sandia Vista before the district wonders why?”

“Well, now we get to raise our taxes for all the bonds that passed. There’s the Rail Runner that we were not supposed to pay for, the hospitals that make huge profits (and we can’t use because they don’t take our insurance) and the flood control that we paid for when we bought our homes, etc, etc. All with fixed incomes and we’re also going to bail out the big boys. Fine them, send them to jail and take their expensive homes and cars to help pay the bills.”

“To the person who commented about what would Jesus think about the rich man not paying his fair share of taxes (The Observer, Nov. 9). Jesus taught everyone should have charity for their fellow man. Nowhere did he say someone in power should take away someone’s property/income and then decide how best to spend the money. Obviously you must spend your time in church sleeping.”

“The election assured Sandoval County citizens two more years of tax-and-spend Democrats.”

“I’m a resident of Rio Rancho and am happy with the forward thinking on locating the new city hall and downtown. It’s a brand new building, not a dinosaur. The dinosaur was the old city hall, which was located in a strip mall. Many people complain about the City Center and Santa Ana Star Center being too far away. I invite those people to visit the Phoenix or Denver metro areas to see what it’s like to have to drive far.”

“Folks, quit your complaining ... you have a house to live in, food on the table and a job. If you don’t like the way the council is doing things, vote them out.”

“In a time when this ‘recession’ has yet to bottom out and the same speculators that help get our country in this mess are now trying to predict how low we will go, is it appropriate for our city leaders to continue to behave like business as usual? This is also a time when, as a resident of Rio Rancho, I’ve seen my property taxes increase 14 percent while my modest home lost a conservative estimate of 25 percent of its value from just a year ago. Sure it’s fine to plan a future for our City of Vision rather than roll up the sidewalks, but stop spending money that we don’t have. In a recession, all of us Rio Rancho citizens have to learn to get along with less and so should the governmental body that runs our city. Fiscal responsibility is more important now than ever if our fair city is going to avoid financial disaster.”

“We are saddened that anyone missed this year’s ‘Harvest Festival’ on October 31 at Haynes Park. The event was moved from Roskos Field to the park area by the new pavilion. Sorry for the confusion. We hope to see everyone again next year on Sat., Oct. 31, 2009. You’re all invited.”

“This regards the recent rant published about Waste Management trucks leaking hydraulic fluid. I too continue to experience trucks leaking fluid in front of my driveway, which then gets picked up by my cars and tracked into my driveway and into my garage. I have called WM a number of times and they have come out and cleaned up the mess. With Rio Rancho residents paying more than Tucson residents (which provides trash service twice a week) shouldn’t we expect better especially from a company that claims to support the environment?”

“I just found out (by luck) about a job fair today. Would someone please explain to me what the New Mexico Workforce Connection organization does? I had an hour-plus chat about everything I already knew. Tough economy. Yep. I got some handouts that were copies of copies — years old. The Web site looks impressive but is not useable. Yeah, the NMWC has copiers, computers and phones — which I have. They have my e-mail — why not notify me about these job fairs and openings that fit my profile? Is this a bureaucratic sinkhole?”

“How can Jane Powdrell represent Rio Rancho when she has no respect for Rio Rancho? How do I know this? Her campaign signs are still up. If she had any respect for our community, she would have taken her signs down before now. Unless of course, she’s not taking responsibility for the signs and hoping someone else will remove them for her.”

“I certainly appreciate your current article on permits (The Observer, Nov. 2) as it allow people to keep abreast of cost per square feet, which is critical for sales and purchase of a new home.”