Roadway voting Tuesday

By Mike Marino
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The day of roadway reckoning to decide the future of needed street improvements in the city of Grants has arrived. Voting is scheduled to take place Tuesday for citizens to vote on the proposed tax increase to generate funding for improvement of city’s roads.

City crews are always fixing potholes and performing damage control after rains cause mud, rock and debris to fill streets. Broken chunks of asphalt join rocks and sticks that run off from higher ground, and the sidewalks suffer too.

In advance of the vote, a questionnaire was sent out to city residents in their utilities bill to fill out and help gauge the public sentiment on a tax increase. Grants City Clerk Cherie Chavez watched the results closely.

“We had 548 surveys completed and returned to us, and when we tallied them up, 360 indicated they would vote “yes” on the tax, and 187 indicated they would vote “no.” To break it down in percentages according to the surveys, that is 66 percent in favor and 34 percent against,” Chavez said.

Voters were allowed to vote early b y absentee ballot, and although everybody seems to complain about the state of the roadways, only a small percentage voted early. City officials hope this is not an indication forecasting low turnout when the polls open tomorrow to decide this issue.

According to the county clerk, there are 5,309 eligible registered voters in the city of Grants. There were approximately only 36 early absentee ballots turned in by the end of last week. Once the polls close, the election board will tally the votes, but the final results will not be known until this Friday.