Report: Progress made on capital outlay projects but billions of dollars still unused

Yahoo

24-05-2025

NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – There's some progress, but billions of dollars earmarked for projects around the state are still sitting unused. It's been an ongoing issue lawmakers have been vocal about: billions of dollars in outstanding capital outlay funds. 'It's getting out of hand. There's no other way to put it,' said Sen. George Muñoz, a Democrat from Gallup, in a Senate Finance Committee meeting last year.
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In November 2024, there was $5.8 billion in outstanding capital outlay funds, spanning 5,300 projects. A new Legislative Finance Committee report from this month shows there is now $5.4 billion in outstanding funds spanning 4,700 projects.
Some of those projects and unused funding include $33 million for a new magistrate court in Santa Fe, more than $4 million for a Paseo Del Norte Expansion, and $7 million for Department of Finance and Administration housing projects.
'There's some progress, but we're sitting there with over $5 billion that could be going into our economy and being used,' said Sen. Craig Brandt, a republican from Rio Rancho and ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee.
He said two factors leading to the issue are inflation costs and funding projects too early. 'But there's also part of the problem that a lot of these projects aren't ready to actually get funding,' he said.
Another factor, in addition to piecemeal funding, is the reauthorization of funds. This past session in SB425, lawmakers reauthorized 326 capital outlay projects authorized in previous years from various funds. The governor vetoed 97 of those, mostly targeting projects originally given funding in 2022 that they haven't used.
To improve the outstanding funds in the interim, the LFC said lawmakers can modify the request system to better vet projects and their readiness. It also suggests limiting how many times a project can get money reauthorized, which is something Senator Brandt is on board with. 'I think that's the only way…this is going to quit happening is for us to say, there's no more reauthorizations, we're not doing them anymore,' said Sen. Brandt.
Click here to find the full LFC report. The next legislative session begins on January 2, 2026.
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