Post by pavel on Feb 3, 2016 6:40:45 GMT -6
SANTA FE – A $6.3 billion spending plan for next year that’s being pieced together by a key House finance panel includes a small pot of money for pay raises but less state funding for New Mexico universities and behavioral health programs.
It relies on “sweeping” about $52 million from various state accounts in the coming year to help pay for day-to-day government operations, and it would divert about $18.5 million from a tobacco settlement fund to help pay for an uptick in Medicaid spending.
Plummeting oil and natural gas prices have blown a hole in budget recommendations released before the start of the ongoing 30-day legislative session, and the plan now being considered calls for state spending to increase by just $81.1 million – or about 1.3 percent – for the budget year that begins in July.
“This was a difficult process, given that $200 million basically disappeared in two weeks,” said Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, D-Los Alamos, during a Tuesday hearing.
Read more: www.abqjournal.com/717319/news/spending-plan-moves-52m-to-fund-operations.html
It relies on “sweeping” about $52 million from various state accounts in the coming year to help pay for day-to-day government operations, and it would divert about $18.5 million from a tobacco settlement fund to help pay for an uptick in Medicaid spending.
Plummeting oil and natural gas prices have blown a hole in budget recommendations released before the start of the ongoing 30-day legislative session, and the plan now being considered calls for state spending to increase by just $81.1 million – or about 1.3 percent – for the budget year that begins in July.
“This was a difficult process, given that $200 million basically disappeared in two weeks,” said Rep. Stephanie Garcia Richard, D-Los Alamos, during a Tuesday hearing.
Read more: www.abqjournal.com/717319/news/spending-plan-moves-52m-to-fund-operations.html