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.
In a cost-cutting measure, the New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division announced today that the MVD office at the Cottonwood Mall will be closed on July 2. The workers will be moved to other MVD offices in the city.
“We have to run MVD leaner and smarter in the face of smaller budgets,” said Rick Homans, Cabinet Secretary of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, said in a statement.
Homans also said that the number of MVD offices run by the state is dropping, but “we are developing many more online capabilities and encouraging our private partners to expand their operations.”
This isn’t the only cost-cutting measure the MVD will be implementing:
Michael Sandoval, director of the MVD, said state-run offices will close at 3:30 p.m. instead of 4 p.m. starting on July 6. The MVD says this will save $105,000 in annual overtime costs.
The MVD will also “discontinue printing of the driver’s manual that cost the agency $50,000 a year” and instead put the manual online.
The MVD may also discontinue or cut back the use of the MVD’s 1-800 number, which they say would save the department $375,000.
“We are investigating every opportunity to save taxpayer dollars and, at the same time, our goal is to maintain and even improve our service to the customers,” Sandoval said.
Even with these cuts and proposed cuts, a total of $655,000, the MVD will still need to reduce its costs by $545,000 to meet the budget requirements for FY 2011.
