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Voters in Albuquerque and Rio Rancho have overwhelmingly agreed to expand the Central New Mexico Community College district into northern Rio Rancho.

Positive votes from two groups of electorates were required to extend CNM's taxing district.

Voters in the current district — which is the same as Albuquerque Public Schools and includes parts of Bernalillo and Sandoval counties — approved the measure 67,728 to 15,322, according to preliminary figures from the Bernalillo County Clerk's Office.

They were asked whether to allow northern Rio Rancho to join the district.

In a separate ballot, northern Rio Rancho voters were asked whether they wanted to join the district and begin paying the property tax to support CNM operations. They also agreed, 2,909-1,549.

Home owners in the affected area will pay an additional $119 per $100,000 in assessed value.

CNM officials said late Thursday they would begin implementing plans to build a campus on 40 acres of land it owns at Rio Rancho's City Center.

It has $20 million set aside for the project, CNM President Katharine Winograd said earlier. The new campus could be open as early as January 2010.

"Approval of this district expansion will result in a new level of higher education access that Rio Rancho residents have not seen in their city before," Winograd said. "It will also open the door for a groundbreaking collaborative partnership between CNM and UNM in Rio Rancho."