Gov. Martinez earns a 'C' for her budget proposals
Posted at: 01/19/2012 10:49 PM
| Updated at: 01/20/2012 6:05 AM
By: Shaun Griswold, KOB.com
A new governor brought a different approach to business in New Mexico, a state that has seen almost $700 million in budget cuts since 2009.
In our final "Grading the Governor," segment, we asked viewers to rate how Gov. Susana Martinez handled the state's budget.
"I started first in my own residence," Martinez said. "I cut two chefs. We aren't going to have any chefs at the residence. Cut the cost of living at the residence by over 50 percent."
Martinez said she also cut down on political appointees, take home vehicles for state employees, state issued cell phones and salaries for cabinet secretaries.
"The savings we accrued allowed us to balance a budget without laying off state employees, or no furloughs, no salary cuts and yet we balanced a budget without raising taxes," she said. "That's enormous when we were facing the largest structural deficit in the history of New Mexico. I think we've done a good job."
But how do viewers think she has done with the state's budget?
About average.
According to an unscientific web poll on kob.com, viewers gave Martinez a, "C" on the way she has dealt with the budget.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman John Arthur Smith has worked closely on the budget with the governor.
Although he is impressed so far, he said Martinez does have room for improvement when it comes to issues such as the state's retirement pension.
"If we procrastinate and push it down the road further, then the remedy is going to be far more painful in the future," Sen. Smith said. "I'm encouraging the governor to take some initiatives right now as we speak to start putting the retirement issue on the front burner."
Martinez said she has focused her attention on big ticket items, such as the New Mexico's film incentive program.
During the last legislative session, Martinez capped the film subsidy program at $50 million.
"To prepare a state budget we had to have predictability," she said. "When you have a subsidy, where there was no cap and it was 25 percent, it was difficult to draft a budget when it could be $50 million one year and $100 million the next year."
Martinez also kept her campaign promise that she would sell the state's jet.
"We said we were going to do it and we sold it and we don't have that continuing expense. We can't expect families to keep cutting. They aren't going out as much, hey don't have dinner out, whatever extras they were doing at home, and then have a luxury jet at the governor's disposal? That's ridiculous," she said. "We had to sell it. It's a symbol of excess."
Others in the legislature approved of the measure.
"I appreciate those steps that she is at least sending a message that we are tightening the belt," Smith said.
New Mexicans will continue to watch how government spends taxpayer dollars and make sure Martinez keeps her campaign promise to spend the public's money wisely.
Grading the Governor
This is the final segment in our series that asked viewers to grade the governor on how she has handled job creation, political corruption, education, DWI and the state's budget in her first year in office.
The unscientific web poll gave Martinez with an average score.
Viewers gave her straight C's on her report card.
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