Gross-receipts taxes won't change in unincorporated areas of Santa Fe County following voter rejection Tuesday of a measure intended to raise fire protection funds.

About 5 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the special election, with about 59 percent of votes going against the tax, according to unofficial results tabulated by the county Elections Bureau.

County Fire Chief Stan Holden called the news disappointing and attributed the outcome to three factors: Dismal voter turnout, economic recession and partisan politics.

"Any time you don't have the support of the community, it's difficult," Holden said late Tuesday in a telephone interview. "When you have that low of a turnout, I think the opposition has a good chance, and they did this time."

He added that going into the election, officials were concerned about national and local economic conditions. In the end, "that hurt us as well," he said.

Members of the county's Republican Party conducted a telephone drive over the weekend and reached out in other ways to encourage voters to reject the quarter-cent tax increase on the basis that the county has poorly prioritized its spending.

Party chairman Jim Bohlander said after the election results that he hopes the County Commission will see the outcome as a message from citizens who don't want to be taxed further during tough times.

"They need to fully fund the needs of our county Fire Department through general funds instead of through a tax increase," he said. "It was never really a question of the needs of the Fire Department. It was a question about the source of the funds."

The estimated annual revenue of about $2 million from the proposed tax levy on business activity outside city limits was to be used to buy equipment and to build or renovate fire stations. Holden said that the county is already behind on such spending and that any capital investments in the immediate future would have to come from grant sources.

"That will have detriment to the services we provide and to firefighter safety," he said. "There is no way around it."

The single-issue election is costing taxpayers at least $30,000 to pay for ballots and poll workers, an idea that didn't sit well with voter Peter Van Ness, who cast a ballot during the lunch hour at Tesuque Elementary School.

"I don't think these freestanding elections should be allowed," he said. "They should always be held with other elections."

Of the 37,803 registered voters who live outside the city limits of Santa Fe, Española and Edgewood, only about 5 percent, — 2,074 individuals — cast ballots.

At all but four of 26 polling places, vote totals went against the tax, with large margins in opposition at Eldorado and at Unity Church, which served voters from precincts west of the city.

The Elections Bureau's next step is to canvass the returns, which includes verifying total votes cast against signed voter registers at each precinct and checking at least 46 provisional ballots. The canvass begins Friday and should be complete for official approval by the Board of County Commissioners on the following Wednesday, said Denise Lamb, bureau director.

Contact Julie Ann Grimm at 986-3017 or jgrimm@sfnewmexican.com.

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Polling place/Precinct No.	Yes	No
Agua Fria Community Center/31,66,67,80	11	18
Benny J Chavez Center/3,4	13	13
Capshaw Middle School/37,54,81	13	17
Edgewood Elementary/18,73,84,85	16	84
El Rancho Community Center/5	19	46
Eldorado Elementary/63,65,69,71	136	227
Elk's BPOE 460 Lodge/48,55	10	2
Ft. Marcy Complex/9,10	2	11
Galisteo Community Center/17	11	13
Glorieta fire station/57	19	13
Gonzales Elementary/11	10	14
Hondo fire station/13,68	57	72
La Cienega Community Center/12,62	25	34
Nambe Headstart/23,61,87	54	75
Pojoaque Middle School/59,60	32	59
San Ildefonso Pueblo/40	11	2
Santa Fe County Fair Building/29,38,56,78		5
Sombrillo Elementary/1,2,79	24	25
South Mountain Elementary/15,16	26	65
St. Joseph's Parish Hall/72	51	18
Stanley Community Center/19	10	36
Sweeney Elementary School/64,75,86	8	11
Tesuque Elementary/7,8	31	30
Tesuque Pueblo Intergenerational Center/6	10	3
Turquoise Trail Elementary/14,70	93	92
Unity Church of Santa Fe/82,83	100	179
Absentee	63	52
Total	855	1216