{"id":25053,"date":"2011-01-13T08:26:53","date_gmt":"2011-01-13T15:26:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=25053"},"modified":"2011-01-14T05:40:11","modified_gmt":"2011-01-14T12:40:11","slug":"auditor-again-faces-potentially-deep-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2011\/01\/auditor-again-faces-potentially-deep-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Auditor again faces potentially deep cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Hector Balderas<\/p><\/div>\n

Already hit by an 18.9 percent budget cut over the last two fiscal years, the Office of the State Auditor<\/a> is facing an additional cut in the coming budget year of at least 7 percent \u2013 if the governor and Legislative Finance Committee<\/a> get their way.<\/p>\n

That means the state auditor\u2019s office \u2013 an agency charged with ensuring public money is spent appropriately and efficiently \u2013 will have seen its budget reduced by more than 25 percent at a time when state government has been plagued by a fiscal crisis and scandals involving the misuse of public money.<\/p>\n

Gov. Susana Martinez\u2019s<\/a> proposed budget<\/a> would result in an additional 8.8 percent cut for the auditor\u2019s office. The LFC\u2019s budget would result in a cut of 7 percent. Either would represent a larger cut than the LFC and governor are proposing for most other agencies.<\/p>\n

Martinez is quick to point out that she only proposes slashing general fund money to the auditor\u2019s office by 0.9 percent. But past action by lawmakers and former Gov. Bill Richardson \u2013 and inaction in the proposal from Martinez \u2013 mean the auditor would, in practicality, face the cut of almost 9 percent in Fiscal Year 2012 if Martinez\u2019s budget proposal is approved.<\/p>\n

Balderas: Cuts would \u2018impair our abilities\u2019<\/h3>\n

Restoring fiscal health and cleaning up corruption were the primary themes highlighted on the campaign trail by the state\u2019s new governor. Martinez pledged during the campaign<\/a> \u2013 and before the budget deficit nearly doubled<\/a> \u2013 to \u201cgive the state auditor as many resources as necessary to do an effective job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should know where every penny of taxpayer money is spent,\u201d she was quoted by The New Mexico Independent as saying. \u201cIt is inexcusable that any government agency or organization goes unaudited and their expenditures unaccounted for. Properly accounting for expenditures should be a requirement for receiving additional appropriations.\u201d<\/p>\n

State Auditor Hector Balderas<\/a> pointed to that past comment after learning of Martinez\u2019s budget proposal this week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was disappointed to learn that Governor Susana Martinez cut the budget of the Office of the State Auditor by almost 9 percent after pledging during the campaign to join me in fighting government fraud, waste and abuse,\u201d he said in a prepared statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom uncovering the largest public school embezzlement in New Mexico history at Jemez Mountain Public Schools to identifying nearly $1 billion at risk in agency funds that were unaudited last year alone, my office has a record of effectively protecting New Mexicans with one of the smallest budgets in state government,\u201d Balderas said. \u201cThese proposed cuts would impair both our abilities to ensure that government agencies and officials are accountable and transparent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Balderas said he had \u201cnot been approached by Governor Martinez\u2019s office to discuss my budget, and\u00a0I look forward to meeting with her and her staff to remedy this misunderstanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Already one of the smaller state agency budgets<\/h3>\n

The state auditor\u2019s office already operates on one of the smaller budgets in state government at about $3 million. From The Independent:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe\u00a0New Mexico Livestock Board<\/a> and the\u00a0Gaming Control Board<\/a> work with annual budgets nearly double the size of the State Auditor\u2019s office. Meanwhile the Legislative Building Services at the State Capitol, at $4 million, possesses more funding each year than the agency, according to a breakdown of funding for state agencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact, the State Commission on Public Records, which gets nearly $2.9 million, appears in a neck-and-neck race with the State Auditor\u2019s Office to see which agency gets more\u00a0funding.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The state auditor\u2019s funding comes from both general fund appropriations and money generated from audit fees collected by the office. In 2009, the Legislature and governor slashed the state auditor\u2019s general fund appropriation by 14 percent and required the office to derive a greater percentage of its budget from the audit fund.<\/p>\n

But the audit fund has been largely depleted. Last year, lawmakers and the governor required the auditor to take $418,000 from the fund. In the coming fiscal year the fund will be about $200,000 short of that.<\/p>\n

In a Sept. 1 letter<\/a> to the Department of Finance and Administration, Balderas requested an additional $200,000 in general fund money to keep his overall FY2012 budget flat.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the (auditor\u2019s office) does not receive assistance to remedy its deficit situation, the imminent fiscal crisis will damage the State Auditor\u2019s constitutional and statutory independent audit functions,\u201d Balderas wrote.<\/p>\n

The letter was also sent to the Legislative Finance Committee.<\/p>\n

Governor again pledges \u2018the resources they need to do their job\u2019<\/h3>\n
\"\"<\/a>

Gov. Susana Martinez<\/p><\/div>\n

Instead of proposing adding $200,000 in general fund money to the auditor\u2019s budget in the coming fiscal year, the governor and LFC propose cutting the auditor\u2019s general fund appropriation slightly. The governor proposes slashing the funding more than the LFC \u2013 at 0.9 percent, or about $20,000.<\/p>\n

The disparity between Balderas\u2019 request for $200,000 in additional general fund money to keep his office\u2019s budget flat and Martinez\u2019s proposal for $20,000 in additional cuts equals the overall 8.8 percent cut to the state auditor\u2019s office that would result if Martinez\u2019s budget is approved.<\/p>\n

Despite that, the governor\u2019s office asserts that Martinez is only proposing a 0.9 percent cut to funding for the auditor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe governor\u2019s budget calls for cuts to administration throughout state government – including cabinet departments, the Legislature, and state agencies,\u201d Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said. \u201cThe auditor\u2019s office was cut in the governor\u2019s budget by less than 1 percent, at a total of roughly $20,000.\u201d<\/p>\n

Darnell said the governor would \u201ccontinue to work with the Legislature to craft a balanced budget that will include a budget\u00a0appropriation for the auditor’s office that, as she said before, gives them the resources they need to do their job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if that meant Martinez would fight to fund the auditor\u2019s office at the level proposed in her budget \u2013 in other words, if Martinez believes the funding level proposed in her budget does give the auditor\u2019s office the resources it needs to do its job \u2013 Darnell refused to elaborate further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe previous statements are going to have to stand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Already hit by an 18.9 percent budget cut over the last two fiscal years, the Office of the State Auditor is facing an additional cut in the coming budget year of at least 7 percent \u2013 if the governor and Legislative Finance Committee get their way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1],"tags":[118,107],"class_list":["post-25053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","category-uncategorized","tag-economy","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25053","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=25053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25053\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}