A. If one-fourth of the registered voters of a municipality petition the board of county commissioners of the county in which the municipality is situated to disincorporate the municipality, the board of county commissioners shall, within fourteen days after the petition has been certified as valid, adopt an election resolution calling for a special election to be held within the municipality on the question of disincorporating the municipality. At the top of each page of a disincorporation petition, the following heading shall be printed in substantially the following form:
"PETITION TO DISINCORPORATE THE MUNICIPALITY OF. . . . . .
We, the undersigned registered voters of the municipality of ......, pursuant to Section 3-4-1 NMSA 1978, petition the board of county commissioners of ...... county to conduct a special election on the question of disincorporating the municipality of ......
| Date | Name--Printed | Address | Usual |
The day for holding the election shall not be less than fifty days or more than sixty days after the board of county commissioners adopts the election resolution.
B. Notice of the election shall be published as required in the Local Election Act [Chapter 1, Article 22 NMSA 1978].
History: 1953 Comp., § 14-4-1, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300; 1983, ch. 154, § 1; 1985, ch. 208, § 6; 2018, ch. 79, § 48.
ANNOTATIONSCross references. — For examination of signatures, purging and judicial review of petitions, see 3-1-5 NMSA 1978.
The 2018 amendment, effective July 1, 2018, provided that notice of a special election on the question of disincorporating a municipality shall be published as required in the Local Election Act, and made technical and conforming changes; and in Subsection B, after "published as required", deleted "for special elections as set forth in the Municipal election Code" and added "in the Local Election Act".
Temporary provisions. — Laws 2018, ch. 79, § 174 provided that references in law to the Municipal Election Code and to the School Election Law shall be deemed to be references to the Local Election Act.
Costs of disincorporation. — There was no indication that the legislature intended to tax the costs of disincorporation of a village upon those who proposed or happened to sign the petition. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-80.
Law reviews. — For comment, "Deannexation: A proposed statute," see 20 N.M.L. Rev. 713 (1990).
Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 56 Am. Jur. 2d Municipal Corporations, Counties, and Other Political Subdivisions §§ 89 to 91.
Rights and remedies of creditor of municipal corporation which is dissolved or combined with another municipal body, 47 A.L.R. 128.
62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 99 et seq.