Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The state Legislature reconvenes today in Santa Fe for another attempt to balance the budget — and this time, lawmakers hope, with a little more harmony and a little less second-guessing.
A few of the legislators serving the communities of Clovis and Portales are in favor of reducing government spending over raising taxes, as is Gov. Susana Martinez, but it’s still hard to say how or exactly when it will be worked out.
“Quite frankly, nobody knows,” said Rep. Bob Wooley, R-Roswell. “I know that the governor’s office and legislative financial committee and Democrats and Republicans have all been talking very steadfastly the past two weeks. They said they have something worked out.”
A speedy resolution was the stated intention of Martinez, as shared locally during a brief stop in Clovis last month. Each day in the special session costs $50,000, a number hanging over the heads of many of the finance-minded legislators assembling this week.
“I hope we get up there and get it done and get out of there,” said Wooley.
The special session follows Martinez’s veto of the budget presented to her by legislators after their regular 60-day session at the start of the year. Martinez has remained vocal about her refusal to support tax increases, and she maintained that position in March when the Legislature gave her a budget plan that included a $350 million tax increase.
Local legislators said some of that $350 million needed to balance the budget might be found within existing funds, if sacrifices could be agreed to on both the state and local level.
“As Republicans we would like to take $12.5 million out of our legislative retirement fund and use it to help balance the budget,” said Wooley, who also pointed out $70 million in capital outlay funds that could be diverted, so long as New Mexico counties and cities would agree to “forgo any projects this year.”
Rep. Randy Crowder, R-Clovis, reiterated Monday that he believes the state spends too much money, as emphasized by its per-capita costs relative to other states.
“I think New Mexico has a spending problem. I don’t think we have a revenue problem,” said Crowder, pointing out that New Mexico’s budget allots over $3,000 per citizen compared to approximately $1,400 per citizen in Arizona and less than $1,000 per citizen in Texas.
Most of the money New Mexico puts into that per-capita spending is “primarily into social programs of one nature or another,” said Crowder.
Sen. Pat Woods, R-Broadview, said Thursday that he thinks tax increases will be the ultimate solution, in spite of Martinez’ previous insistence on shooting them down.
“We will balance the budget by raising taxes,” he said. “I have asked if there was any interest (in) reducing our budget but essentially the response was our citizens need more government. I’m kind of bummed.”
In the process of balancing the budget, legislators also intend to restore funding to legislative branch agencies and state schools, which was eliminated with Martinez’ line-item veto in March.
“We need to get our colleges and the Legislature (services) refunded,” said Crowder. “We need to restore those dollars. Clearly that’s the priority. We need to increase our reserves and there are some opportunities to do that.”