As a military member for the past 18 years, I have had many challenges with staying in touch with hometown issues and casting my vote in various elections. Over the past 10 of these years I have closely followed the political and public policy scene in New Mexico. My daily morning routine consists of reading up on New Mexico current events, and I very rarely miss the opportunity to catch up on hometown politics.
This became a little challenging while in Iraq in 2004, but I was reading up every chance I got through online articles and constant shipments of the Albuquerque Journal and Artesia Daily Press. I would like to say that I was just being a well-informed, good citizen, but the truth is that I enjoy public policy and I especially enjoy staying in touch with my beloved home state.
Well, more often than not I find myself scratching my head over some of the political happenings in New Mexico and, in true Lombardi-ish form, I continuously find myself saying, “What the heck is going on out there?”
There are many troubling issues facing our state, and the current economic recession is compounding these problems many times over. For many of us these issues can quickly become overwhelming, confusing and too abstract for our day-to-day realities. Even something as simple as casting a vote can sometimes be very challenging — hopefully I am not alone with that feeling?
There is no more pressing issue than our current state budget deficit that is quickly growing larger and larger with every new forecast. Ultimately, there will be mandatory budget cuts or increased taxes in order to comply with the state’s constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. The big questions are what public services to decrease or what state governmental entities to trim or who should bear the burden of increased taxes to maintain our current public lifestyle?
There are many ideas and opinions on how to solve the current deficit problem, with many of them well supported in facts and figures. Much of this research is well beyond my time-challenged comprehension capacity, and I again find myself wondering if government was designed to be this confusing.
As a lifelong student of government and economics, I truly understand that executing governmental services is no easy task. Although I think politicians tend to over-complicate the issues in favor of personal and partisan politics.
The current budget deficit is a very serious issue with very frightening consequences for many New Mexican families. So political rhetoric has no place at the table when dealing with these important issues. My intent is to give an outside take on an important home-state issue with no personal or political agenda.
Across-the-board cuts
The idea of doing straight, across-the-board cuts to all state government departments, minus education, is inefficient and ineffective. The bottom line is that some state services are more vital than others, and across-the-board cuts may have a greater impact on our day-to-day lives than would otherwise be necessary.
For example, do we want to cut the budget of the state auditor the same percentage as that of another state department? No, due to the fact that the department of the state auditor is already struggling to prevent people from robbing us blind, and any budget cuts will directly impact the state’s ability to keep our tax dollars safe. (Is there such a thing as safekeeping tax dollars in our state?)
This is a very simple example, but the idea can and should be applied throughout this argument in order to maintain vital state services versus discretionary state services. Many might argue that this is not an equitable concept, and the only way to prevent any partisan input is to evenly cut all departments. This would be the easy road out.
Unfortunately, political discussions need to take place in order to reflect citizen priorities. These tough decisions need to be made collectively by our state leadership, both elected and professional, in line with the state’s strategic priorities.
Government cuts versus tax increases
There is an important, ongoing debate on how to most responsibly balance the state budget during this economic recession: Do we cut government services or do we increase tax revenues? Melissa Binder’s recent article raised some very legitimate concerns that are well supported by proven economic theories.
Although I disagree that “cutting government spending is the worst thing to do,” I do agree that it may not be the ideal course of action or preferred course of action. But it might be a necessary course of action and a natural step in the economic correction process.
Under the Richardson administration, some state government agencies have grown approximately 50 percent, in large part due to due oil revenues that enabled the spending spree. Well, the time of reckoning is upon us, and the long-term, fiscally responsible thing to do is to cut back on government spending to reflect the natural state of the economy.
It is correct that cutting back on government spending will temporarily worsen the local recession, but raising taxes will also worsen the local recession, no matter who burdens the additional tax. So the question that is upon us is, what measured approach to the budget deficit do you trust to help New Mexico emerge from this recession sooner rather than later?
Government by nature is inefficient, and politicians will continue to spend at a rate that taxpayers allow without any regard to the necessity of the expenditure. So I assure you that any cuts in government spending will not bring the world crashing down upon you if done in a thoughtful and strategically planned manner.
How the budget deficit can be solved
Any of us who have worked in government can look around and easily indentify needless wasteful spending. I understand the instinctive human reaction to defend the family income, and I agree that we should exhaust all options before cutting salaries or jobs.
I believe the current budget deficit can be solved through increased operational efficiencies that every state agency is more than capable of identifying, auditing the current budget for unspent reverted funds, delaying some discretionary capital outlay projects and decreasing the rainy day fund by 1 to 2.5 percent.
Another starting point for additional budget cuts is to examine where the 50 percent increases in government spending have occurred under the current administration and begin to hack away at any identified political pandering. I will also suggest that before any salaries or jobs are to be cut we should demand that this begins and ends with the absurd surge in the Richardson non-competitive politico appointees.
Increasing taxes without these steps would continue to allow politicians to spend without end, and at some point we must begin to hold government and politicians accountable for our hard-earned tax dollars.
If all else fails to result in public savings, fire Coach Locksley and hire Coach Cooper Henderson from Artesia for half of the current UNM coaching salary. I will bet that the Lobos would be up one in the win column and minus one in the punches thrown department.
Luévano, a registered independent, is a Marine Corps officer with 18 years of active-duty service and an Artesia native. He graduated from the University of New Mexico in 2001 with a bachelor’s in political science and economics and from the University of Kansas in 2008 with a master’s in public administration.