{"id":191309,"date":"2016-09-30T00:11:14","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T06:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=191309"},"modified":"2016-09-30T00:11:14","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T06:11:14","slug":"with-budget-cuts-looming-corrections-asks-for-millions-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/09\/with-budget-cuts-looming-corrections-asks-for-millions-more\/","title":{"rendered":"With budget cuts looming, Corrections asks for millions more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\t\t\t<div id=\"slides-191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591\" class=\"navis-slideshow\"><div id=\"191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591-slide1\"><img data-lazy=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Marcantel-Gregg.jpg\" \/><h6 class=\"credit\">Luis S\u00e1nchez Saturno \/ The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/h6><h6 class=\"permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/09\/with-budget-cuts-looming-corrections-asks-for-millions-more\/#191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591\/1\" class=\"slide-permalink\"><i class=\"icon-link\"><\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">New Mexico Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel told the Legislative Finance Committee on Thursday that risks of escapes, riots and other problems are elevated with a persistent job vacancy rate of about 22 percent in the department. He asked for more money this year from lawmakers.<\/p><\/div><div id=\"191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591-slide2\"><img data-lazy=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Varela-Lucky.jpg\" \/><h6 class=\"credit\">Luis S\u00e1nchez Saturno \/ The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/h6><h6 class=\"permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/09\/with-budget-cuts-looming-corrections-asks-for-millions-more\/#191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591\/2\" class=\"slide-permalink\"><i class=\"icon-link\"><\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rep. Luciano \u2018Lucky\u2019 Varela, D-Santa Fe, raises the issue of Corrections Department morale problems with Cabinet Secretary Gregg Marcantel during a Legislative Finance Committee meeting Thursday. <\/p><\/div><div id=\"191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591-slide3\"><img data-lazy=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/Abbey-and-Hall.jpg\" \/><h6 class=\"credit\">Luis S\u00e1nchez Saturno \/ The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/h6><h6 class=\"permalink\"><a href=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/09\/with-budget-cuts-looming-corrections-asks-for-millions-more\/#191309-82e99c9c70e40dffc5f4891d3700f591\/3\" class=\"slide-permalink\"><i class=\"icon-link\"><\/i> permalink<\/a><\/h6><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left, David Abbey, director of the Legislative Finance Committee, and Rep. Jimmie C. Hall, R-Albuquerque, talk while Corrections Department Secretary Gregg Marcantel addresses the panel.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n<p>As lawmakers head into a special legislative session aimed at addressing a budget deficit in the hundreds of millions of dollars, state Corrections Department officials told the Legislative Finance Committee <span class=\"aBn\" data-term=\"goog_191453158\"><span class=\"aQJ\">on Thursday<\/span><\/span> they will be hard-pressed to make it through the current fiscal year without more money.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Sanchez, the department\u2019s deputy secretary of administrative support, told members of the committee that the department anticipates it could end fiscal year 2017, which began in July, $17 million in the hole. And that doesn\u2019t account for the fact that Gov. Susana Martinez has asked each department to cut 5 percent from its general fund spending for the current fiscal year.<\/p>\n<p>Sanchez said the Corrections Department could help shore up that shortfall with about $7 million in supplemental funds it received from the Legislature last year for hepatitis C treatments and to address an increase in inmates, but at a minimum, she predicted, the department will need $10 million more to finish out the fiscal year.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">The Santa Fe New Mexican<\/a>. NMPolitics.net is paying for the rights to publish articles about the 2016 special legislative session from the newspaper. Help us cover the cost by\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/donate\/\" target=\"_blank\">making a donation to NMPolitics.net<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>As for next year, Sanchez said the department has identified about $11 million in cuts and cost savings.<\/p>\n<p>But even when those are considered, she said, the department would still need about $4.3 million more in fiscal year 2018 than it received this year to address a massive job vacancy rate and to hold probation violators in jail while their cases are adjudicated.<\/p>\n<p>She said the department had cut \u201cto the bone\u201d in some areas this year to find savings for next year.<\/p>\n<p>Some state departments \u2014 Children, Youth and Families, for example \u2014 have been exempted from making the 5 percent cut. But Corrections Secretary Gregg Marcantel was vague when asked if his department was required to follow the order.<\/p>\n<p>The executive branch had shown \u201csome favor\u201d to agencies with a public safety mission, he said, \u201cbut I don\u2019t know if that qualifies me as being exempted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Even the state budget director, Anthony Forte, couldn\u2019t answer legislators\u2019 questions about which agencies will be held to the directive, saying decisions are still being made.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez\u2019s office didn\u2019t respond to an email seeking comment.<\/p>\n<p>Members of the Legislative Finance Committee bemoaned the state\u2019s declining revenues and acknowledged that they were wary of underfunding the Corrections Department \u2014 and possibly facing another riot like the one in 1980 in which 33 prisoners lost their lives.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>State Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, asked Marcantel if he remembered telling lawmakers last year that the department was at the \u201cfront door\u201d of seeing a repeat of the 1980 riot. Marcantel said he did.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not yet out of that hole,\u201d Marcantel added, saying the department is now better equipped to handle potential unrest in the prison system \u2014 which has about 7,000 inmates statewide \u2014 than it was in the \u201980s. Corrections officers are better trained, he said, and there are better policies in place for sorting the inmates.<\/p>\n<p>But, Marcantel said, risks of escapes, riots and other problems are elevated by a persistent job vacancy rate of about 22 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. George Mu\u00f1oz, D-Gallup, tried to pinpoint the amount of funding Marcantel feels is needed to ensure public safety will not be jeopardized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt what point is enough, enough?\u201d Mu\u00f1oz asked.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we hold you out of a cut right now \u2026 I don\u2019t want you in front of the TV camera saying, \u2018The Legislature didn\u2019t fund us, therefore we had a riot.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n<p>Marcantel said he doesn\u2019t have a certain dollar figure. \u201cWe are in the process of doing our best to be a part of the solution and not jeopardize public safety,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Mu\u00f1oz said he wants a number.<\/p>\n<p>Corrections officials said almost $3 million of the $332.4 million budget the department needs for fiscal year 2018 \u2014 up from $327.7 million in fiscal year 2017 \u2014 is needed to address a disparity in wages. When money allocated for corrections officer vacancies last year was paid to new recruits, veteran officers\u2019 pay was left at subpar levels.<\/p>\n<p>Marcantel bristled when Rep. Luciano \u201cLucky\u201d Varela, D-Santa Fe, raised the issue of morale problems at the department. Legislators had to acknowledge their role in the \u201cmultifaceted issue,\u201d Marcantel said.<\/p>\n<p>After the hearing, he said legislators were on board last year with a salary plan the department had developed to bring corrections officers\u2019 pay up to more competitive rates, but in order to be effective, he said, the plan needs reoccurring allocations.<\/p>\n<p>Varela said in an interview after the hearing that part of the department\u2019s morale problem, as he understands it, is because members of the rank and file believe some money the Legislature gave to the department to increase salaries went to high-paid administrators, like Sanchez, and the creation of a $103,000<strong>&#8211;<\/strong>a-year chief of staff position filled by Mark Myers.<\/p>\n<p>Martinez is the only person responsible for evaluating whether top administrators like Sanchez are effective, Varela said. But given that unionized corrections employees are currently taking a no confidence vote on Marcantel, he said, \u201cI\u2019m wondering if [Marcantel] is going to be there for the duration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Varela expressed frustration that Martinez is pushing to reinstate the death penalty and enhance a \u201cthree strikes\u201d law during the upcoming special session, which he says will only \u201cdivert\u201d lawmakers from focusing on balancing the budget.<\/p>\n<p><i>Contact Phaedra Haywood at 505-986-3068 or <a href=\"mailto:phaywood@sfnewmexican.com\" target=\"_blank\">phaywood@sfnewmexican.com<\/a>. Follow her on Twitter <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/@phaedraann\" target=\"_blank\">@phaedraann<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>State Corrections Department officials told the Legislative Finance Committee on Thursday they will be hard-pressed to make it through the current fiscal year without more money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":191317,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3305,203,107],"class_list":["post-191309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-special-session","tag-law-enforcement","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191317"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}