“Nothing will change,” Santa Teresa Country Club sold to member of owning family

It’s a change on paper but not in practice. ABC-7 has learned the sale of the Santa Teresa country Club may not mean much.

“Nothing has changed and nothing will change, the club will still be operated by Mesilla Bolson,” said a member of the Santa Teresa Country Club’s owning family.

Mesilla Bolson, the holding company which used to own the club, was $419,000 behind on property taxes. Doña Ana County sold the property off in auction for $192,000 Wednesday to clear the tax liens.

The Collins family member spoke with ABC-7 over the phone Saturday, explaining the company was not allowed to enter the auction for their own property and instead used a member of the family who won the auction using their own name.

A member of the family who owns the club told ABC-7 the new owner on paper was simply a member of the company, and nothing new is planned for the country club.

That’s not what neighbors we spoke with were hoping for.

“I’d like to see it come back as a golf course, what it was made for, and revitalize the whole area,” said one man ABC-7 spoke with who said the country club needed to be repaired.

One of the owners said the property will still be managed by Mesilla Bolson, the company who fell back on decades of taxes, since the deed was bought by someone in the same company.

Now, Doña Ana County said around $419,000 were owed for the club’s back taxes, and when the country club parcels went for sale the county received two bids, totalling around $192,000. That does mean that there was a $226,000 loss, but the county said is a risk they are taking.

“It’s better to start collecting something that to just seeing it drop off the back end year after year after year, so that’s why we’re very relieved with this,” said Eric Rodriguez, the Doña Ana County treasurer.