Legislative Finance Committee

At the end of first quarter of FY25 at the end of September, outstanding capital outlay balances totaled an estimated $5.8 billion across roughly 5,300 projects.

While a growing number of behavioral health providers could help reduce the number of New Mexicans who abuse substances and suffer other behavioral health issues, the state should also develop high-quality, evidence-based services and use data and analysis to focus efforts.

New Mexico has eliminated a 13-year-old waiting list for home- and community-based services for the developmentally disabled but the additional clients strained provider capacity and quality-monitoring and cost-containment issues remain.

From July 2023 to April 2024, the state collected $55.3 million more than expected for the fiscal year. Through April, the money collected is 12.5 percent more than through the same period last year.

State agencies and judicial entities are requesting about $1.3 billion for more than 100 construction and equipment projects, with the Health, General Services, and Energy, Mineral and Natural Resources departments each asking for more than $100 million.

Almost $585 million in requests from colleges and universities make up the largest dollar amount of the total of $2.7 billion in requests for one-time appropriation from state agencies and higher education institutions, with the $474 million in requests from environmental agencies a close second.

Road conditions deteriorated in 2024 compared with 2023 but the Transportation Department has moved quickly to get more resources into the system, with $95 million spent or committed between March and October.

The Rail Runner has had a strong comeback from its pandemic shutdown but additional increases will be hard in sparsely populated New Mexico and improvements that improve ridership are expensive.