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Hello; being from the east cost I am confused as to what the relationship is between the County of Sante fe and the City of Sante Fe. I've done a little search on the internet for information and am not satisfied.
We want to purchase a home in "Sante Fe, New Mexico"... what does that mean? Is there any difference between purchasing a home in the City of Santa Fe and a home in the County of Sante Fe.
Can anyone give me a source to read that explains the two in terms that my 9 yr old nephew can understand?
Well, just like New York is in New York state, so Santa Fe is in Santa Fe County ;-} City generally - this is a generalization - implies access to city water, sewer, trash and other services. County residents generally either are part of a subdivision (Aldea, Eldorado, etc.) that looks after such matters, or they look after services on their own.
The City is proposing to annex parts of the county, something that it does regularly. Your realtor will make it very clear to you whether you're buying in the city or the county, and what the actual differences are, property by property.
Hope that helps!
New Mexico, like most states is divided into counties. New Mexico has 33 counties. One of those counties is called Santa Fe County. Within that county, in this case, there is the city of Santa Fe. Sometimes it gets confusing such as Bernalillo County. There is also a City of Bernalillo which is not in that county, but in Sandoval county. This page shows the counties in New Mexico: List of counties in New Mexico - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Santa Fe County includes the cites of Espanola and Santa Fe as well as the town of Edgewood, as well as other pueblos and villiages. This page should explain it more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_F...ty,_New_Mexico
The city and county I believe share the same assessor, but the rate is a little lower in the county. On the other hand, you get more services in the city. Out in the county you are likely to get your water and sewer from a homeowner's association or do it yourself -- well and septic. But that is changing for most people in the Pojoaque Valley who are slated to get their water and sewer from the county.
Frankly, IMO you are better off with your own well and septic as long as there is water down there. City and County politicos will choke your water down to negligible in order to have water for new developments.
And all things being equal I'd go for the county, because the City Council (IMO) is going a little nutty and running up some debts that will have to be paid someday.
I forgot to mention this. If you see a house or apartment for rent in Nambe or Pojoaque that is probably the unincorporated village of that name, but might be the pueblo of that name. In the former case, you are in the county. In the latter case, you are not actually in the city or county at all. It doesn't matter except that your legal rights are zip and I would not recommend it.
Another couple of thoughts for you... anyone living in the city of Santa Fe can say they live "in Santa Fe". The county, however, is quite big and many (if not most, I don't actually know) people who live in the county don't live "in Santa Fe". They live in Tesuque or Pojaque or Lamy or wherever.
Where it gets confusing, though, are those of us who live in the county of Santa Fe on the outskirts of the city. My house isn't in the city limits, but I live "in Santa Fe", my kids could go to SF public schools, etc. We pay a lower tax rate in the county but don't have access to city services as some of the previous posters pointed out.
Another point is that even if you live inside the city limits, you are also in the county and can vote in county elections. Still the city will provide most of your services. Outside the city limits, you are only in the county or a pueblo.
I live in the Pojoaque Valley, but the mailing address is still Santa Fe and when you talk to people from other other areas, you say you live in Santa Fe -- unless you want to brag about a Tesuque address or something of that nature. If you say something like Jaconita you only get blank stares.
With respect to annexation -- it seems unlikely IMO that the city will ever annex to the north as the Tesuque residents will resist it IMO and Tesuque is the wealthiest CDP in New Mexico. Also a lot of the land is the pueblos and you just can't annex a pueblo.
I live in Eldorado, which is Santa Fe county , but my mailing address is "Santa Fe" and my post office is on Pacheco St. IN the city of Santa Fe. So I say I live in Santa Fe.
And to confuse you even further....
I live in Stanley, just inside Santa Fe County. I'm a good 35-40 minutes to the city of Santa Fe. My kids go to school in and we have our mail delivered to Moriarty, which is in Torrance County. I'm just about dead center between Santa Fe and Albuquerque.
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