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Thomas Austin
County Commission District 5

Name: Thomas W Austin

Political party: Republican

Age: 55

Education: Graduated from Artesia High School in 1975, joined the Marines and returned to New Mexico after being honorably discharged. In 1984, graduated from NMSU with a BS in Engineering Technology.

Immediate family: Married to Terri Austin for 20 years. Two children, Caitlin 15, and Joshua 12

Past political or public service: Currently serves as a deacon at First Baptist Church in Las Cruces, and is currently serving as president of the Leasburg Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association. A member of the Dona Ana County Republican Party Executive Committee and served as the ward chair for District 37 until redistricting resulted in him being a constituent of Legislative District 39. In 2010, ran for Dona Ana County Commissioner, District 1.

Why are you the most qualified candidate for this position? After his years of experience of being on both sides of the fence, being both a public employee for 17 years and now a small business owner, and part-time employee in the private sector, he has a sense of where we need to go as a county and how our government representatives need to understand that they are accountable to the people they represent.


Many of the people in public office have spent their entire careers either as a public employee or as an elected official and have never known what it is like to operate in the private sector. They have never experienced the frustration of trying to comply with burdensome regulations and excessive taxes and fees.

Top 3 priorities if elected: 1.To promote small business development within the county, by reducing, and in some cases seek to eliminate, burdensome regulations, taxes and fees on the private sector. He believes this approach will increase county revenue, not by increasing taxes, but by increasing the number of taxpayers.

2. He will work to establish a long-term planning and zoning policy to protect property values. He realizes that planning and zoning is a vital component of growth in any community and that agricultural and rural areas within our county need to be protected from high-density development. He also understands that land use issues are a difficult area in which to find consensus, and therefore, input from constituents is vital.

3. To continue the process of improving infrastructure within the designated colonias in Dona Ana County. He will work with the county manager to get county staff to identify the needs within the colonias based on priority. Water and wastewater infrastructure first, followed by roads. He will work with local non-profit organizations, such as Colonias Development Council, and with the local domestic water associations to assist them in acquiring state and federal monies available to them for infrastructure improvements.