A. The majority of the members of the governing body of an eligible municipality may impose by ordinance an excise tax at a rate not to exceed one-fourth of one percent of the gross receipts of a person engaging in business in the municipality for the privilege of engaging in business. The tax may be imposed in increments of one- sixteenth of one percent not to exceed an aggregate rate of one-fourth of one percent. The tax shall be imposed for a period of not more than twenty years from the effective date of the ordinance imposing the tax.

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B. The tax imposed pursuant to this section may be referred to as the “municipal higher education facilities gross receipts tax”.

C. The governing body, at the time of enacting an ordinance imposing a rate of tax authorized in Subsection A of this section, shall dedicate the revenue only for:

(1)     acquisition, construction, renovation or improvement of facilities of a four- year post-secondary public educational institution located in the municipality and acquisition of or improvements to land for those facilities; or

(2)     payment of municipal higher education facilities gross receipts tax revenue bonds issued pursuant to N.M. Stat. Ann. Chapter 3, Article 31.

D. An ordinance imposing any increment of the municipal higher education facilities gross receipts tax shall not go into effect until after an election is held and a majority of the voters of the municipality voting in the election votes in favor of imposing the tax. The governing body shall adopt a resolution calling for an election on the question of imposing the tax at the next regular municipal election. The question shall be submitted to the voters of the municipality as a separate question. If a majority of the voters voting on the question approves the ordinance imposing the municipal higher education facilities gross receipts tax, the ordinance shall become effective in accordance with the provisions of the Municipal Local Option Gross Receipts Taxes Act. If the question of imposing the municipal higher education facilities gross receipts tax fails, the governing body shall not again propose the imposition of any increment of the tax for a period of one year from the date of the election.

E. For the purposes of this section, “eligible municipality” means a municipality that has a population greater than fifty thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census and that is located in a class B county having a net taxable value for rate-setting purposes for the 2006 property tax year or any subsequent year of more than two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000).