Does New Mexico Suffer from a Lack of ‘Public Investments’?

The end of the legislative session just a few days away, and appropriations for the new fiscal year — which starts July 1 — will soon be finalized.

For a broader perspective, the Rio Grande Foundation looked at the the trend in all state spending, adjusted for inflation, for the fiscal years 2003 to 2013. Figures are in billions, and come from the comprehensive annual financial reports issued by the Department of Finance and Administration. They include every dollar spent, from unemployment benefits to transportation, education to prisons, Medicaid to the the New Mexico Finance Authority.

In all, state expenditures rose by 30.2 percent, a sharp divergence from population growth of just 11.6 percent.

Stingy state government? Not exactly.