Contact: Erika Martinez
(505) 986-4263
Erika.Martinez@nmlegis.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2015
Chaos of State Finances Costs Children, Jobs and Environmental Protection
Martinez Administration Cannot Account for Hundreds of Millions in Taxpayers’ Dollars
Santa Fe, NM – Senate Democratic Majority Leader Michael S. Sanchez (D-29-Bernalillo & Valencia) this week sharply criticized the Martinez Administration’s continuing inability to account for potentially hundreds of millions of taxpayers’ dollars for which it is responsible. At a meeting of the Senate Finance Committee, during which State Secretary of Finance Tom Clifford testified, Sen. Sanchez said it was inexcusable that the Executive still cannot answer for its spending, nor balance the State’s check book. The Committee was informed that the State may be forced to write down between $70 and $460 million to balance its books -funds that would not be available for public schools, health, infrastructure and other critical needs.
“This Administration has had four years to reconcile State government agency accounts worth millions of dollars, but again this week no concrete solutions were offered. Simply put, they cannot tell us how much revenue came in, how much was spent, and how much is still in the bank, as it were. The Martinez Administration continues to violate the law. There may not be another state in the country that is in such a situation, and it is unacceptable,” Sen. Sanchez said.
Democrats rightly have criticized the Governor for being hypocritical on accounting issues in the past. She held back legislatively approved capital outlay funds for local infrastructure projects, citing deficiencies in local governments’ auditing standards. The Administration also stripped Medicaid payments from a score of non-profit agencies across New Mexico that delivered behavioral health treatment and services, alleging accounting and payment fraud that still has not been proven.
“The Governor demands strict accountability from everyone else for showing how they spend the taxpayers’ dollars. But she offers very little accountability from her own house, as we see today in the chaos of the State’s books,” Sen. Sanchez added. “This is a serious issue. Every dollar we withhold in reserve while the State’s accounting mess gets sorted out is a dollar lost to children’s futures, to job creation and to protecting our water and air.”
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