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 Governor-elect Susana Martinez said Wednesday that layoffs of state workers isn’t her first option, but she acknowledged that the possibility isn’t off the table.
“I would like not to have layoffs,” Martinez said Wednesday at an Albuquerque news conference. “People are already in furloughs in state government. We have to make sure we are providing the necessary core services and so I would never say they are off the table.
Fixing New Mexico’s state budget will dominate the legislative agenda as Martinez and state lawmakers learn to work together starting in January to close a $260-million gap in the 2012 budget after the state already has cut costs and raised revenue during previous legislative sessions.
Martinez made promises on the campaign trail that might prove difficult to keep.
The governor-elect promised not to raise taxes in her first year at the same time she promised not to cut two of the largest areas in the state budget — public education and Medicaid, the government’s low-income health insurance program. Education and Medicaid make up 60 percent of the state budget.
Martinez said Wednesday that there were 3,000 vacant state jobs around New Mexico state government. But it was unknown how much of a savings New Mexico would net from eliminating those positions because it’s unclear how many of the vacant jobs are actually funded.
“Some are and some are not. We’ve received just yesterday a pile of documents about this thick,” Martinez said, indicating several inches of documents her staff will review to determine how many positions are funded.
Martinez already has said she wants to shrink the number of political appointees scattered throughout state government. But doing away with from 200 or 300 of those positions wouldn’t come close to filling the $260 million budget shortfall.
The governor-elect also acknowledged she still intends to sell the state jet, which became an issue during the governor’s race.
“I definitely do want to sell it,” Martinez said. “We have to look at what the market looks like and certainly looking at the planes and how many we have … I understand there are several helicopters. We want to take a look and see where we are with that.”
