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.
Susana Martinez
Republican candidate for governor Susana Martinez has pledged to sell New Mexico’s state jet if elected—but she told The Independent she would not sell two other aircraft that cost almost as much to operate. One of those two planes is newer than the jet.
In July, KRQE-TV investigative reporter Larry Barker’s reported that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish’s use of state aircraft cost $367,236 over the past five years. Barker also found that Denish had violated state cost-efficiency rules 39 times.
Denish has said she wasn’t aware of such rules. She defended her use of the planes, telling The Independent that flying allows state officials to get out to rural New Mexico more quickly and more often. She also said selling the jet in today’s market would be a bad move.
“Susana Martinez will sell the five million dollar jet …the remainder of the state fleet will only be used in emergency situations or official state business that is a priority,” said Martinez Campaign Manager Ryan Cangiolosi in an e-mail to The Independent.
But Cangiolosi didn’t specify what state business would take “priority” for jet usage.
Martinez has argued that use of the jet symbolizes waste and excess of the current administration, particularly her opponent, Lt. Gov. Diane Denish. Usage records, however, show that Denish’s office use of state aircraft has included both the jet and another turbo prop plane, the King Air.
According to General Services Department spokesperson Alex Cuellar, the jet, a 2005 Cessna Citation Bravo, cost $5.45 million. The 2006 King Air, purchased a year later, cost $2.5 million. The third state plane is a 1983 Turbo Commander the state bought about 25 years ago. Cuellar didn’t have a purchase price for it.
Operating costs are similar for all three planes
The Cessna is bigger than the other two planes, seating eight passengers. The King Air and the Turbo Commander each carry six passengers.
It’s the Cessna that Martinez takes issue with, but aside from the purchase price the Cessna operating costs aren’t that much more than the other two.
The Cessna costs $2,852 per hour, Cuellar said. But the King Air’s operating costs are similar: $2,346 per hour. The Turbo Commander runs $2347 per hour.
“User agencies pay approximately 40 percent of those costs to charter the aircraft and the rest is subsidized by the Legislature. So user agencies pay $1,141 per hour for the Cessna Citation Bravo, $938 per hour for the King Air and $939 for the Turbo Commander,” Cuellar said.
These operating costs include more than the fuel, wages, and fees associated with actual flights. They also include the fixed costs associated with the planes, including hangar rental, crew training, office personnel expenses and insurance.
State legislature approved purchases of two new aircraft in mid-2000′s
The state Legislature approved the purchase of the Cessna in 2004. At the time, the state hadn’t bought a plane in 20 years, Cuellar said, and it got a “good deal” on the jet. State agencies were using the Turbo Commander and another older King Air that was aging, warranting the purchase of a new aircraft with the idea that they would soon need it, he added.
The Cessna came with a price break, a three-year warranty and training for pilots. Perhaps most importantly, he said, its efficiency and safety features exceed the turbo prop planes. It flies higher, so can get above bad weather, and it’s faster, so it saves time.
In 2006, the state retired its old King Air and purchased a new one. The usage of the fleet slowed after March, 2009, when Gov. Richardson directed state agencies to cut back expenses in light of the economic recession, Cuellar said.
According to records from July 2009 to June 2010, state agencies used the King Air for 127.1 flight hours, and the Cessna for 163.7 flight hours.
A review of the flight records since 2003 show that the primary agencies that use state aircraft are the state Transportation Department, the School for Visually Handicapped, Children’s Medical Services, and the State Engineer’s Office. After that come the governor and lieutenant governor.
When state agencies want to use an aircraft, they can request one or the other, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get it, Cuellar said. The planes are in a rotation, and which plane an agency uses on any given flight depends on what is already in use, or is serviced and ready to go.
The flight records for Fiscal Year 2010, which covers the period from July 1, 2009 through June 30 of this year, show that the governor and the lieutenant governor’s offices used both the Cessna and the King Air for trips.
“The planes are economic development tools and can be used for everything from getting state officials to meetings in rural areas, supporting the Forestry Division with aerial surveillance, scouting corporate locales and scouting shooting locales for filmmakers,” Cuellar said.
“The Cessna Citation Bravo’s first mission was a humanitarian one,” he continued, “taking a United Blood Services team and lab equipment and supplies to hurricane ravaged Louisiana over the Labor Day weekend 2005.”
The following chart shows cumulative aircraft useage in hours. The totals include use of all three aircraft.
Correction: The FY10 column in this chart is incomplete, it only goes through October 2009.
