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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — As New Mexico lawmakers feud over a stalled public works package and wrestle with ways to stimulate the state's lagging economy, an ominous number looms over the conversation.
The state auditor says $4.5 billion in unspent money is sitting around in the accounts of various agencies, with varying degrees of restrictions on how it can be used and when it should be pushed out to spur economic development.
Some lawmakers and Gov. Susana Martinez disagree with the auditor's assessment, but others say it highlights the need to better sort out New Mexico's complicated balance sheet.
Legislators say they're open to examining the figures and want changes such as ensuring the money goes to projects that are ready to move forward, rather than having hundreds of millions of dollars getting bottled up in bureaucracy.
"It is the wrong time for us to be hoarding money," said Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa.
New Mexico's financial house is in disarray on multiple levels.
More than $260 million in public infrastructure spending hit a snag during the recent legislative session when lawmakers couldn't agree on how to pay for the projects. And pressure is mounting for a special session to pass a public works bill, which is necessary to deal with critical needs such as building roads and bridges, senior centers, schools, and tribal infrastructure.
Amid the discourse over the budget and infrastructure money, Auditor Tim Keller released a report in March that outlined $4.5 billion in unspent money, most of which was for the 2014 fiscal year.
About $1.2 billion is committed to incomplete capital projects and $1 billion in infrastructure funds is marked for roads and water projects. The rest is spread among various state agencies' funds.
Keller questions whether the money is being spent in a timely fashion and whether it could be better used to improve education, build roads or create jobs.
A separate legislative analysis lists 98 projects as being on schedule, 68 behind schedule or with little activity and 12 with no activity or for which no bonds have been sold.
Projects that saw movement include statewide senior center renovations and the addition of a commercial lane at the Santa Teresa port of entry in Dona Ana County. But a $5 million project for public school technology infrastructure has not yet started and a nearly $4 million San Juan County road project hasn't budged.
Keller offered three suggestions: The governor can help push the money out faster; the Legislature can reclaim some of it; and the funds can come with a use-it-or-lose-it deadline.
Rep. Jason Harper, R-Rio Rancho, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, agrees an examination of the funds is needed, but characterized Keller's report as misleading.
He said cash the auditor claims to be unspent is money for which the checks have been written; they just haven't been cashed.
"The whole state budget is $6.2 billion. If we have $4 billion sitting around, you know that we'd have spent it," he said.
Harper says the "glacial" pace of government is in part to blame for not getting projects off the ground quicker.
Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, strongly questioned the auditor's report during the recent legislative session, saying most of the money identified by Keller is marked for specific use.
But he also pointed out that about $800 million of previously allocated capital outlay money hasn't been spent. And he added about $237 million is also tied up in projects that haven't moved.
Reform is needed in "the worst way," Smith told The Associated Press this week.
"The governor is going to have to step up to the plate and say we need to claw that money back if you don't spend it in a timely fashion," he said.
Most of the money Keller identified is already spoken for and authorized for particular projects and programs across the state, the governor's office said. And spokesman Mike Lonergan emphasized Martinez has long advocated for spending reform.
"Even the best planned projects are developed and built in phases, where expenditures often occur over a period of years as it is completed," Lonergan said. He added, Keller's report "lacks depth and does not provide an honest description of the situation."
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Online:
Auditor's report: http://bit.ly/1HB7wI7
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