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 Senate voted 36-4 Saturday to strip more than $130 million from brick-and-mortar projects from around the state.
The bill now goes to the House of Representatives.
While senators overwhelmingly supported the legislation, the debate sometimes reflected the anger that lawmakers felt at watching money stripped from projects in their district.
“This is painful to each and every one of us,” said Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, the sponsor of the legislation.
Lawmakers are struggling to close a budgetary shortfall estimated at several hundred million dollars. The gap is between the amount of revenue coming in and the cost next year of keeping services at their current level.
And the bulging capital outlay bill is a piece of the budget puzzle. The plan is to take the money clawed back from the more than 1,500 projects around the state, including some high-profile priorities for Gov. Bill Richardson, and place it in the state’s reserves, or rainy day fund.
Some members complained Saturday that their projects were targeted more than other lawmakers.
“All day long and from the beginning of the session I keep hearing money vs. pork,” said Sen. Lynda Lovejoy, D-Crownpoint. “I have to dispute you. Because capital outlay is about people. It provided money to communities that provided infrastructure for our people.”
Added Sen. Clint Harden, R-Clovis: “I think this process was unfair to the small, rural municipalities in southeastern New Mexico.”
Lovejoy and Harden were among the four senators to oppose the legislation. Democrats John Pinto and George Munoz also voted against the bill.
The list of targeted projects in the bill is primarily made up of smaller projects less than $1 million in value around the state: gyms, senior centers, town hall renovations, animal shelters, domestic shelters, water system improvements.
But it also includes big-ticket items, including a highway interchange in Belen already under construction; film/media production facilities and a proposed equestrian facility in Albuquerque. State money meant to help a solar plant in Belen also was targeted.
Each year the state has doled out money for small and large projects around the state. In some years New Mexico handed out more than $1 billion to pay for such construction. By late last year about $1.4 billion was assessed as tied up in thousands of projects in various stages of progress, meaning the projects had stalled.
Many of those had sat for years without contracts, and in some cases repeated requests to local governments for documentation of contracts – evidence that the project was moving – resulted in no response.
