Font ResizeSANTA FE - New Mexico's financial woes go beyond a more than $400 million shortfall looming next year in the state budget that pays for public education, Medicaid and other key governmental functions including courts and prisons.
The state's transportation network is caught in a separate financial squeeze and that poses another big challenge for Republican Gov.-elect Susana Martinez, who takes office Jan. 1.
Transportation Secretary Gary Giron warned that his cash-strapped agency is having trouble maintaining New Mexico's roads and bridges.
There's a nearly $200 million yearly shortfall for routine maintenance, such as preserving pavement, chip sealing roads and preventive repair of bridges, Giron told lawmakers recently, and an additional $50 million a year is needed to replace bridges and make major repairs.
To cope with budget cuts, he said, the department will emphasize maintenance of interstate and federal highways in New Mexico.
"The risk is that some state routes will fall into disrepair," Giron told the Legislative Finance Committee.
The Transportation Department isn't included in the state's main $5.2 billion budget, which is financed with revenues from sales, income and severance taxes along with energy production royalties and interest earnings from New Mexico's permanent funds.
Transportation is funded separately by federal highway money and earmarked state revenues - taxes on gasoline and diesel, vehicle registration fees and weight distance
State revenues for roads have dropped as New Mexico's economy sputtered and a recovery won't happen quickly.
It's projected to take until 2014 before road fund revenues return to the peak they reached in the 2007 budget year. That strongly suggests the budget squeeze on transportation will continue throughout Martinez's upcoming four-year term.
The agency's financial troubles have been building for years, partly because a slow growth in revenues - particularly from gasoline - failed to keep pace with construction and maintenance costs.
A 2007 task force suggested several proposals to boost transportation funding, including raising vehicle registration fees, indexing the gasoline tax to rise with inflation and increasing the state's gross receipts tax rate, with the money earmarked for transportation. However, none of those politically difficult tax proposals were enacted.
And tax increases aren't likely any time soon unless Martinez retreats from her campaign pledges. Martinez opposes tax increases to provide more money for transportation, according to Danny Diaz, a spokesman for her transition team.
"As with anywhere else in state government, Gov.-elect Martinez believes we must look within the bureaucracy to ensure fewer resources are used for administrative purposes and more funds are directed toward projects that directly benefit New Mexicans," Diaz said in a statement. "The governor-elect does not believe tax increases are the solution, and we must maximize partnerships and make better use of both federal and state funds."
For the Transportation Department, like the rest of state government, the future holds more budget cuts.
