I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
The state’s budget situation is bad, real bad, much worse than how it is portrayed in the media.
That was the warning Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, used to open a three-day legislative hearing in Santa Fe on Wednesday.
Yes, there’s a $500 million shortfall for the year that ends June 30. But the budget gap for the next year, estimated now at $500 million, could become a $1 billion budget gap if revenues continue to be anemic, Smith told state officials, lobbyists and nonprofit advocates who gathered for a hearing by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC).
“I guess what I am trying to communicate is that we have a serious problem here,” said Smith, who is the chairman of the LFC.
“We have heard from all types of advocacy groups” who are lobbying lawmakers to escape cuts to the state budget, Smith continued. “We are going to do our damnedest. But there isn’t going to be a member of the LFC who will walk away from this happy.”
Then Smith reeled off the relevant numbers to reinforce his point. Revenues for the year ending June 30 were originally projected at more than $6 billion, but now have dropped to $5.7 billion. Next year’s revenues were originally projected at nearly $6.5 billion, but have dropped to $5.9 billion.
