Latest news with #LegislativeFinanceCommittee
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
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Mosquero Municipal Schools sees teacher housing as solution to rural woes
MOSQUERO — Eastward beyond the Sangre de Cristo Mountains lies a seemingly infinite spread of pasture, broken up only by the occasional ranch along the roadside. It's a view common throughout Harding County, the least populated county in the state, with around 750 people and 50,000 head of cattle, according to locals, many of whom who take pride in the remote area's rural lifestyle. But there's a drawback to that bucolic expanse. The lack of housing spells long commutes for teachers and students and creates difficulties in recruiting and retaining educators, compounding struggles small public school districts long have faced. Officials argue their operational costs are far higher per student than their urban counterparts. New Mexico lawmakers on the Legislative Finance Committee visited the village of Mosquero in mid-May to hear from school leaders in rural communities about their unique challenges and how a state-funded teacher housing project underway at Mosquero Municipal Schools helps in a county like Harding — with no rental properties listed online and just a few houses listed for sale. Though, a lack of affordable housing for staff isn't just a problem in remote towns like Mosquero, whose district serves 50 students who attend in person. Educators nationwide struggle to afford to live where they work, leading many districts to develop housing projects in an effort to combat teacher shortages. Some rural public school districts across New Mexico, including Mosquero, have seen state money roll in to develop similar projects, thanks to the Teacher Housing Pilot Program and other initiatives launched in recent years. The pilot program is focused on remote villages and tribal communities with insufficient housing within 10 miles. Roy Municipal Schools has taken notice of the effort in nearby Mosquero and is considering such a project, an official said in a recent interview. Others districts have found alternate funding sources to build teacher housing. The Pojoaque Valley School District, for instance, secured federal funding for a project in the works. Even Santa Fe Public Schools has discussed the possibility of teacher housing in an effort to ease the high cost of living for staff. The local district secured some state capital outlay funds to start the process but remains a long way from the estimated $15 million needed to build a housing complex. 051425 jw teacher housing Santiago Zamora sands drywall for the teacher housing project in the village of Mosquero in Harding County. Building a housing supply Johnna Bruhn, superintendent of Mosquero Municipal Schools, applied to the state's Teacher Housing Pilot Program and received almost $3 million to build 10 small houses — five now nearing completion. The project is meant to attract new teachers to fill two vacancies and house current staff who commute long distances due to a lack of nearby housing. The district has 11 certified teachers in prekindergarten to grade 12, and it employs 24 total staff. 'We try to cover for one another. But when you're as small as we are, you kind of need everyone to be present,' Bruhn said. Like a few other school staff, she lives outside the village, more than a 40-minute drive away in Logan — though her 'heart is in Mosquero.' Mosquero map She's set to be one of a handful of staff members to move into the new units, with around five reserved for new hires. Teachers living in the units will pay rent on a sliding scale relative to their pay — to their landlord and employer, the school district. Specific contracts for rent amounts have not yet been determined, Bruhn said. Gallup-McKinley County Schools, which stretched across 5,000 square miles, also has benefited from the pilot program. It received funding for several housing projects, one of which created 16 two-bedroom units as a means of reducing teachers' commutes, according to information from the developer. The Pojoaque Valley School District received $750,000 in federal funds in 2023 to build teacher housing, aided by efforts of U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. The Central Consolidated School District built 15 housing units in Shiprock in 2022 using state funds. On a visit to those units in Shiprock, the New Mexico Public School Facilities Authority named the units as a model for state, according to a news release from the district. A separate release cited a tour by Ryan Parks, an official with the agency, who said he was impressed with the initiative and the district's work. 051425 jw teacher housing Kristian Tarango seals the foundation of a prefabricated home Tuesday for a project to build 10 rental units for teacher housing in the village of Mosquero. Officials at the agency and several school districts with active or completed housing developments did not return calls to comment on the projects. Bruhn said many small rural districts lack the 'administrative expertise' to manage and apply for large-scale capital projects like Mosquero's. Having previously worked for the New Mexico Department of Agriculture, Bruhn said her familiarity with government processes helped — but navigating the byzantine software and construction landscape still proved challenging. She called on the state to assign a 'funding expert' for smaller districts' capital projects. Another obstacle, she said, was the cost of bringing contractors to such remote areas — often two hours or more from Albuquerque or Santa Fe. That's partly why Mosquero opted for prefabricated homes built in Albuquerque, which she said came at half the cost of building on-site, according to estimates. Few students, more problems Bruhn had more to talk about with lawmakers than housing. Sitting under the chartreuse tint of the school gymnasium, she spoke about the myriad of ways 'micro-districts' like hers, with 200 or fewer students enrolled, are facing unique rural challenges — and how housing is just a piece of a complex puzzle. 'You can't go to a textbook company and say, 'I want two textbooks,' ' she said. 'So it's the issue of scale that absolutely kills you.' Bruhn instead suggested lawmakers fund micro-districts as if they had a baseline level of 100 students, a panacea not for inefficiency, she noted, but to help offset high per-student operational costs. Micro-districts like Mosquero are funded more per student than the state average — $26,100 per student compared to $13,900 statewide in fiscal year 2025, according to a brief from the Legislative Finance Committee. 051425 jw teacher housing Construction underway on teacher housing Tuesday in Mosquero. The report credited that increase to legislative adjustments to the state's school funding formula in 2015 and 2020 to increase funding for small and rural districts — changes the brief notes helped wean micro-districts off emergency supplemental funding they had 'chronically' relied on. Although micro-districts might have only a few special education students, Bruhn noted as an example, they still require the entire framework of specialized supports and dedicated spaces mandated by state and federal law — a burden larger districts can absorb more easily. Sitting behind Bruhn in the audience were administrators from other rural micro-districts. Alan Umholtz, superintendent of San Jon Schools, said Bruhn laid out many of the issues his district also has faced. He underscored a point she had made about transportation in rural districts, echoing the need for state-funded alternatives like SUVs. 'Electric buses — you can't drive those on the roads [in San Jon] because they're just gravel,' he said, noting his buses often run with only a few students due to multiple far-reaching routes. 'Play to your strengths' The state legislators' trip to Mosquero was part of a three-day tour of rural New Mexico that ended in Tucumcari. It was organized by Rep. Jack Chatfield, a Mosquero Republican who brought his colleagues to witness the challenges and advantages of rural life. 'What they need to understand is it's a remote area. You're not gonna go to Walmart every evening,' Chatfield said during a tour of school facilities. 'You have to play to your strengths. And our strength is a good education and a strong community.' The Mosquero district has made a commitment to 'leverage career technical education to boost student outcomes,' Bruhn said. It offers intensive career pathways across a variety of fields and allows students to find ways to support the local community with their personal passions — small businesses that have sprung up to fill gaps. Among them: a coffee shop, a county newspaper and a tire shop started by a former student who is now in an auto mechanic program in Wyoming. 'It's a long way for community members to go to have particular services dealt with,' Bruhn said. 'So we try to ask: 'What can we train our students to do that they'd otherwise need to drive elsewhere for?' ' She added, 'I guess I should get a count on how many tires were fixed this year. I don't have it, but it was quite a few for our little community. That's the beauty of being so small — we can tailor things at the student level instead of just the classroom level.' The school district also boasts an equestrian center, a sprawling indoor arena for a range of uses. It's used as a space for developing rodeo skills like roping — which Bruhn's husband and son volunteer to teach. The arena has other career education uses, serving as a pathway for event management. Classes for culinary education and meat processing are planned in classroom modules with a window to the arena. It's reflective of the make-do attitude in the close-knit village, where many community members take on a variety of roles and older students often step in to read to children in pre-K classrooms. Victor 'Ray' Vigil, who serves as both mayor of Mosquero and school board president — a role previously held by Chatfield — said, 'It's harder for students to fall by the wayside' in such a small community. He noted the boys basketball team was showered with community support, despite regularly 'getting their teeth kicked in,' with losses like 80-2. 'But when our kids scored that bucket, you thought they just won the state championship,' Vigil said. 'Because people went to support 'em. They're here for the kids.'
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Report: Progress made on capital outlay projects but billions of dollars still unused
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. Story continues below Crime: Two ABQ police officers placed on leave in critical pedestrian crash on Central Real Estate: 'Nothing short of a personal resort' luxury property listed for $12M in Santa Fe National: 'I'm sincerely sorry': Billy Joel cancels all concerts due to brain disorder diagnosis 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. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
NM budget expert expects Medicaid work requirements out of Congress
Charles Sallee interviews for a promotion to lead the Legislative Finance Committee on Aug. 17, 2023 at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) One of the New Mexico Legislature's top budget advisers says he expects the federal government's planned budget cuts to make it harder to qualify for the state's health insurance program for low-income people. Medicaid is under threat from the executive branch and Congress. On Sunday, House Republicans released a plan that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates would cut $715 billion cut to Medicaid funding. As of publication on Tuesday, a U.S. House committee tasked with that work was starting what was expected to be a long and grueling session on the proposals. Also on Tuesday, at the state Legislative Finance Committee's first meeting since this year's legislative session, Director Charles Sallee told lawmakers that in the worst-case scenario, the Republican proposal would translate to cuts of more than $1.1 billion for New Mexico's Medicaid program. Sallee said work requirements for some Medicaid patients are 'guaranteed' to be included in the Congressional budget as an additional eligibility condition for nondisabled adults without dependents on Medicaid. That could dramatically increase the number of people who don't qualify for health insurance under the program, he said. 'It remains to be seen just how tough Congress will make the work requirements,' Sallee said. Whether people who lose their Medicaid coverage will be able to find a low-cost or free alternative health insurance policy through the state's BeWell exchange, or lose coverage altogether remains an open question, he said. Sallee also said provider taxes, which the state government levies on nurses and hospitals, are on the chopping block. That could upend programs designed to enhance service quality in those facilities, he said. Sen. Linda Trujillo (D-Santa Fe) asked whether Congress is considering the potential increase in social costs of people losing their health insurance, and Sallee said no. 'Part of the benefit of giving people access to health insurance is that they'll go to their doctor for ear infections or things that you don't need to go to the emergency room for,' Trujillo said. 'That's an indirect cost that's going to increase, because it costs thousands of dollars more to go and get your ear looked at in an emergency room than it does to go to your health care provider.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico Legislature passes $1.2B in local infrastructure, construction spending
Legislative Finance Committee analyst Cally Carswell, Rep. Derrick Lente and Sen. Benny Shendo discuss capital outlay funding with the Senate Finance Committee on March 20, 2025. (Photo by Austin Fisher / Source NM) The New Mexico Senate on Thursday afternoon approved $1.2 billion in one-time funding for local infrastructure, buildings and equipment in an annual spending bill called 'capital outlay.' Lawmakers pass a capital outlay bill each year to pay for all or part of new infrastructure or construction — projects like buildings, parks, roads or acequia upgrades. The Senate voted 25-16 in favor of House Bill 450, with Republicans in opposition. The floor vote came minutes after the Senate Finance Committee passed the bill, which will allocate funds to more than 1,400 projects in all 33 of New Mexico's counties. The House of Representatives passed the same version of HB450 on Wednesday; the bill now heads to the governor's desk. Sen. Pat Woods (R-Broadview) opposed the bill in committee on Thursday for the same reasons as his House colleagues the day before: Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham added a $10 million request for the construction of a reproductive health clinic in Northern New Mexico. 'I know the governor has all the rights in the world to put in whatever piece she wants in this,' Woods told the committee. 'I'm disappointed it came in so late and that I wasn't able to see it ahead of time.' Some of the big-ticket items in the bill include $50 million for public school buildings statewide; $40 million for a forensic unit at the Behavioral Health Institute in Las Vegas; and $40 million for a humanities and social sciences complex at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Most of the money in the capital outlay bill — nearly $800 million — comes from the state's General Fund, its biggest single pot of public money, while another $292 million comes from the sale of severance tax bonds and the remaining $132.9 million comes from other state funds. Legislative Finance Committee staff have recommended lawmakers consider setting an earlier deadline for local capital outlay requests, and creating a basic method of vetting and tracking projects that receive state money. The Department of Finance and Administration has created an online dashboard that allows people to track capital outlay spending, but lawmakers are considering more changes. Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) told the committee the capital outlay process is a 'work in progress.' He said an LFC subcommittee met over the interim last year to discuss ways to 'modernize' the process. He said he expects a minimum funding amount or a 'floor' to be one of those changes. 'If we don't set this floor, we're nickel and diming this process to a point where they may never be able to spend this money because it's never enough, and the project continues to go up in price, and at the end of the day, we just continue to add to the unspent balance that we have today,' Lente said. Overall, $5.8 billion remains in unspent capital outlay funding, said Cally Carswell, principal capital outlay analyst for the Legislative Finance Committee and an expert witness on HB450. Sen. Michael Padilla (D-Albuquerque) told the committee he coordinates with representatives whose districts overlap with his to collaborate on funding specific projects, and asked if anything can be done to help coordinate capital outlay funding in different parts of New Mexico. Carswell told the committee similar coordination is happening in several parts of the state, it's a good practice and tends to lead to more projects getting more of the funding they need. She said after this session, LFC could start looking at 'some sort of technological solutions or additional tools' to make it easier for lawmakers to coordinate. 'Capital outlay has to change,' Senate Finance Committee Chair Sen. George Muñoz (D-Gallup) said on the Senate floor on Thursday. The state currently has 712 active projects, to which lawmakers had given at least $1 million as of September, accounting for $4.3 billion in total, according to data produced by legislative staff. Of those, 360 are on schedule, 75 are behind schedule and 277 have had no activity, or the local governments responsible have not sold the bonds needed to raise the money, or are facing 'significant obstacles to completion,' according to the report. 'We're spending the money the wrong way. We're wasting money,' Muñoz told the Senate Finance Committee. 'People show up with a project and an idea, and they have no plan. They don't know what the cost is. They just know we're giving away free money. Time and time again, we underfund projects and we don't ever complete them.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
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Senate OKs $2 billion trust fund to fight any federal Medicaid cuts
It's the most basic financial advice you can get: Always save for a rainy day. So amid concerns about cuts in Medicaid programs coming down from Washington in the coming years, the New Mexico Senate unanimously approved a measure to set aside billions of dollars in rainy-day money for the state Medicaid program. Senate Bill 88, which has earned bipartisan support from top Senate Democrats and Republicans, would over several years build up a $2 billion pot of money known as the Medicaid Trust Fund to then match federal dollars, especially if the state sees cuts. "This is a very prudent use of our resources here," said Sen. Bill Sharer, R-Farmington, one of the bill's sponsors. The money would be funded with certain earnings the state treasury receives through investments from other accounts and funds. In the coming fiscal year, nearly $280 million is expected to go into the fund. Money will flow into the Medicaid Trust Fund until it reaches $2 billion. In fiscal year 2029, the fund would begin making distributions into the State-Supported Medicaid Fund, which would also be created under SB 88. Those dollars would support the state Medicaid program and/or match federal Medicaid funding. Medicaid, which provides health coverage to low-income people, is administered at the state level and is partially funded by the state but relies heavily on federal dollars — the federal government pays for 70% to 90% of Medicaid costs in New Mexico, depending on the population, according to an analysis published last year by the Legislative Finance Committee. Under a budget resolution passed in the U.S. House of Representatives last week, Republicans called for the House Energy and Commerce committee, which handles health care spending, to find about $880 billion in savings over 10 years, including from programs like Medicaid. It's not clear yet how the state would be impacted by cuts to Medicaid on the federal level — the New Mexico Health Care Authority did not answer a question Wednesday about potential cuts. "Protecting New Mexicans' access to health care continues to be our top priority," Health Secretary Kari Armijo said in a statement. "We share the Legislature's concerns about potential federal funding cuts and appreciate their work to develop financing strategies that will continue to support the more than 873,000 New Mexicans covered by Medicaid." In the New Mexico Senate on Wednesday, SB 88 faced little opposition but saw lawmakers support the bill based on their concerns over potential federal Medicaid cuts. Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, said the trust fund was a way for the state to continue caring for those who are most underserved. "If there are cuts in Medicaid, if there are cuts in other forms of funding, we need to have … the resources to help to take care of that," he said. The bill's passage in the Senate also comes after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week all but guaranteed she would call a special session of the Legislature to address federal funding cuts, noting possible Medicaid trimming was of particular concern. Sharer said he does not necessarily share the same concerns about cuts to federal Medicaid funding. Still, he pointed to a trigger mechanism in the bill that would allow the state to begin drawing money from the Medicaid Trust Fund sooner than 2029 should cuts in federal Medicaid dollars lead to losses in coverage or benefits in New Mexico. "I believe that federally, they're looking for fraud, waste and abuse, not to harm us," he said. "But this does have a trigger, just in case, and so I think that that's great."
