There is something “magical” about the 11% when it comes to growing spending in New Mexico. The budget passed this legislative session grows State government by 11% and now the Mayor of Albuquerque has proposed an 11% increase in spending as well.
And then of course there was the supposed “fact” (one year ago) that Council HAD to raise the gross receipts tax by 3/8ths to avert a financial crisis. Instead of massive spending growth as we see in this year’s budget, how about returning those unneeded dollars to the taxpayers? Fat chance.
The most outrageous part of the budget is probably the increase in funding for the failed and non-operational ART project and
Based on the chart below which only tracks “general fund” spending at the City, this part of the budget is slated to grow by 21.82 in just two years. You can read the Albuquerque Journal’s article about the budget here.
The Rio Grande Foundation has routinely cited national data indicating that New Mexico’s state/local governments spend a lot more than most states. And, while it is tough to compare city spending across state lines (because states and their local governments have differing responsibilities) this analysis of the top 100 cities by population in the USA from Ballotpedia is interesting.
Albuquerque is not the biggest spending city among major US cities, but it certainly isn’t the lowest either. An increase of nearly 22% over two years seems rather excessive especially since City Council just raised taxes and
When Alaska started to reap billions of dollars from its north slope oil bonanza, it eliminated its state income tax and started making yearly royalty payments to all Alaska residents (averaging about $1000 per person per year). In NM, with our oil boom, the state raised taxes and increased spending on public programs. Says a lot about the differences between AK and NM.
AK also implemented carbon emission mandates with renewable wind and solar. Imagine that; solar panels north of Canada where nights last months, not just hours and where wind turbines have to be de-iced like an airplane.