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| B- | New Mexico |
• Population (rank): 1,954,599 (36)
• Average per capita income (rank): $20,913 (46)
• Total state spending (rank): $13,399,021,000 (33)
• Spending per capita (rank): $6,855 (7)
• Governor: Bill Richardson (D)
• First elected: 11/2002
• Senate: 42 members: 24 D, 18 R
• Term limits: None
• House: 70 members: 42 D, 28 R
• Term limits: None
In the past five years, New Mexico has taken strong steps toward addressing some of its most glaring management weaknessess, including what may have been the worst method of capital spending in any state in the country. Instead of having a centralized planning process for its infrastructure, the state simply divided capital funds into three equal portions, one each for the governor, the House and the Senate. The latter two split the money further by putting much of it under the control of individual legislators. Everything was political; hardly any decisions were made on the basis of rational planning.
Governor Bill Richardson set out to change that when he took office in 2003. Robert Apodaca, director of the state's Capital Projects Division, recounts the new governor asking such questions as "Why are we spending $25,000 on a water system in Las Cruces that needs at least a half a million?" Richardson began negotiating with the legislature to reserve more money, in addition to his own one-third share, for strategic purposes. This year, the governor and the legislature agreed that about $300 million extra, or nearly two-thirds of the legislature's share, would be set aside for long-term goals. And even though the rest was split the traditional way, legislators have agreed to pool much of this money and target it toward needed projects.
For example, the city of Taos recently asked the state for $1 million to build a new water system. The Capital Projects Division got the local legislators to kick in $200,000 from their slices of the capital fund; then the governor made up the difference. Negotiating in this fashion, project by project, is far from the best way to handle capital planning. But it's a big improvement over what New Mexico did for decades.
Long-term thinking has emerged in the past couple of years on an enterprise-wide basis, as well. All major state agencies have been assigned planning responsibilities and charged with fulfilling one part of the state's strategic plan.
It seems to work. Consider the New Mexico Home for Boys, a juvenile detention center in the remote town of Springer. According to the state personnel director, this was "one of the last of these facilities set up as a jailing center," instead of a place where juveniles could get an education. It was only when the Corrections Department and the agency that handles youth services found themselves in the same planning group that they were able to come up with a solution. The boys from Springer were moved to a more appropriate residence in Albuquerque. Meanwhile, the Springer site was converted into a minimum-security adult facility — saving the town from disabling job losses.
Last year, New Mexico consolidated its information technology services, and made the state's IT agency a cabinet-level department. These moves have had an effect already, with the IT department helping to consolidate what had been 30 different e-mail systems into one. The state also is moving belatedly into workforce planning, an effort that got a boost with the installation of an advanced HR data system in the summer of 2006.
At the moment, New Mexico has a fiscal advantage over most other states in the oil and gas money that flows into its coffers. But New Mexico's infrastructure has greater maintenance needs than most. It is a "bridge state," meaning it sees a great deal of transcontinental traffic crossing back and forth. "We're paying a tremendous amount so the nation's goods can get to market," says Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught. The state is adapting. It has saved millions of dollars by paving highway shoulders, which rarely have traffic, with far less asphalt than the road itself. For the state to continue making strides, it will need to continue making moves like this, both large and small.
For additional data and analysis, go to pewcenteronthestates.org/gpp.