State audit could show impact of movies on state

Carlsbad Argus - SANTA FE — Movies in New Mexico have never been bigger or more controversial. The state paid a record $102 million in subsidies to television producers and filmmakers for the budget year that ended June 30. Even so, the number of jobs the film industry has created is still being debated by New Mexico's legislators. Is it 2,000 or 10,000 who make their living because of moviemaking? Nobody can say for sure. Another cloudy part of the debate is how much of a financial return the state received after using subsidies to lure movies. Answers should crystallize by fall, when the first results of detailed state audits of the movie industry will be finished, said state Sen. Timothy Keller. Keller, D-Albuquerque, authored a bill that tightened rules for the rebates that filmmakers and television companies receive for doing business in New Mexico. "We will be able to determine how much is spent on the film industry, and how much return there is on our investment," Keller said in describing his Senate Bill 44. Gov. Susana Martinez, who spent much of her first months in office trying to lower the movie subsidy, signed the bill into law in April. About that time, moviemakers began rushing to to file for rebates under the state program that entitles them to 25 percent back on qualified production expenses. Read full story here: News New Mexico

State audit could show impact of movies on state