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Thursday, February 04, 2010
Budget Battle Looming in SF
By Dan Boyd
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Investigative Reporter Journal Capitol Bureau
SANTA FE — The New Mexico Legislature's 30-day budget-balancing session looks like it could be headed for a collision.
Lawmakers hit the session's midway point Wednesday with leaders of the House and Senate remaining philosophically divided on how to plug a budget deficit for the coming fiscal year that's projected to be between $500 million and $600 million.
House members could vote as soon as today on a proposed $5.6 billion budget that relies on about $320 million in increased taxes and about $200 million in federal aid to help cover state spending. Some of the federal aid hasn't been approved by Congress yet.
Top-ranking senators say the budget plan, if approved by the House, won't have a soft landing in the Senate.
"Obviously, the House wants the Senate to be the bad people and strip (the tax increases)," said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.
Smith said it's possible, if not likely, that lawmakers will have to return for a special session this spring if they are unable to reconcile their budget disagreements by the time the 30-day session ends Feb. 18.
Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday he supports the House's budget approach, which includes temporarily raising the gross receipts tax rate and imposing a personal income surtax on high-earning New Mexicans.
The tax hikes would allow the state to balance its budget without cutting salaries of educators and state workers, though some spending cuts would still be required.
"I believe the House is taking the right approach, targeted spending cuts and some revenues," Richardson said.
However, support for the budget package crafted by House Democratic leadership appeared to be wavering Wednesday, even among members of the majority party.
Democratic representatives held two caucus meetings — both behind closed doors — to discuss the budget bill.
"We're waiting to see if we can get consensus on it and get it passed without additional cuts," said Rep. Luciano "Lucky" Varela, D-Santa Fe, deputy chairman of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee.
Legislators have cut state spending by $700 million in the past two years in the face of plummeting revenues, but spending in the six previous years went up by more than $2 billion.
Republicans in both the House and Senate are expected to take a hard-line approach against tax hikes, although they bristle at suggestions they're merely trying to block the Democratic agenda.
"They've never asked us to be part of the solution," said Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque.
Hall said he thinks there are still ways to trim the budget — by targeting administrative and vacant positions — without hurting core services.
"I can't support any tax increases until we shrink state government down to a level that a populist can support," he said.
If House members pass the budget this week, Varela said, House leaders will immediately begin meeting with their Senate counterparts to discuss the bill in detail.
Leaders from the two sides haven't sat down to talk budgetary matters since the session began, he said.
Richardson said Wednesday he's not worried about the potential snags that the budget, and a slew of other bills on his agenda, could get hung up on.
"I'm not concerned yet," he said. "It's still early. The Legislature, in a 30-day session, doesn't get cranked up until the very end."
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