© 2016 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. There is currently deep despair in New
Mexico because budget cuts cannot be avoided and the political football can’t
be punted to next year. Things have to change now. Example: New Mexico State
University has to cut twelve million dollars from their budget.
The total budget for NMSU is around
$620 million so $12 million is 1.9 percent. In an institution as large as NMSU,
with all of their fund-raising programs and hold-back funds, it is a small sum.
But it’s a cut and that’s the problem.
In our current political climate many
people think that every government program must be continued or something is
seriously wrong. It is inconceivable in the media that budgets can be chopped,
in fact, programs can be eliminated in hard times.
Over the last two decades the state
of New Mexico has gone from a very rosy financial status to the budget crisis
of today. Who knew the oil and gas business was going to tank?
The issue is: in the recent years when
times were good, what did the people who guide our state do? They spent
everything they could. Did they save anything for hard times? Not recent
leaders.
Former Governor Gary Johnson was a fiscal
conservative. He constantly vetoed spending bills when he thought they were not
wise. It was seven hundred times in eight years ending in 2002. Not all of his
vetoes were spending, but many were and the money piled up.
In January 2003 Bill Richardson took
office. There were hundreds of millions of dollars in rainy day funds that he
spent immediately on political issues. The eight years of savings were gone in
days. Bill Richardson was running for President of the United States. So he
spent and spent and spent.
The last budget of Gary Johnson in
2002 was $3.9 Billion. That number went all the way to $6.8 Billion in Bill
Richardson’s quest for the presidency. He was named the nation’s Education
Governor for his spending on education, which had no effect on the outcomes for
New Mexico students but looked good in the headlines.
Fast forward to today since there
are serious budget problems at $6.2 Billion. The problem is that there has been
a large downturn in the oil and gas revenues. The budget is no longer viable
and must be amended.
When talking about reducing spending
some people act like there has always been over six billion dollars in the
budget. But New Mexico’s budget was under $4 Billion just a few years ago.
The last time there was an oil and
gas bust was 1981. At that time, I remember seeing bumper stickers that
proclaimed, “Please God, give me one more oil boom… this time I promise not to
piss it away.” Do we have anyone saying that prayer today?
New Mexico was one of only five
states who were not having budget problems in the late 1990s. Then in 2003 the
spenders got their hands on our state. Some politicians want taxes to now rise
as compensation for falling oil and gas revenues.
That would be wrong because it gives
the impression that government budgets cannot be seriously cut. Not one percent
or two percent. Rather, ten percent. New Mexicans will be fine.
The media will find those people who
lose out. But for the two million citizens in New Mexico being fiscally
responsible is essential for our future and the future of our children. NMSU is
gravely wringing their hands over less than two percent. Seriously.
Here’s a solution: NMSU and the
University of New Mexico have many similar programs. Retrench to one or the
other a couple of the programs currently at both universities. Know this: you
should not touch the core of NMSU’s Land-Grant mission or the core of the
University of New Mexico’s metropolitan university.
It is time to bring sense back into
the spending of the people’s money by government entities. No more spending so
that people can be elected with promises. The oil and gas will come back; will
we be careful with the money next time?
Only if the voters elect those who
are responsible and prepare for the next coming hard times.
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