Rio Rancho’s governing body unanimously cleared the way last week for Sandoval County to annex 7.8 acres into the Town of Bernalillo, a boundary shift that lets the county move forward with a bigger 13th Judicial District Court Complex and a relocated Bureau of Elections.
City staff reviewed the request and found it wouldn’t harm Rio Rancho’s own development plans, according to a staff memo presented to council. The land in question, part of the La Plazuela complex near NM 528 and Idalia Road NE, currently sits inside Rio Rancho’s boundary even though it’s surrounded by county government buildings — creating what County Manager Wayne Johnson called a “jurisdictional nightmare,” including a Health Commons building split between two municipalities.
State law requires Sandoval County’s elected officials to keep their offices in Bernalillo, the designated county seat, Johnson told council. Shifting the parcels lets the county finish a 60,000-square-foot addition to the judicial complex — adding three courtrooms, two hearing rooms and a jury room — and build a new Bureau of Elections headquarters on the property’s north end.
Funding on the ballot…