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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Gutierrez

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/29/08

HB 444

SHORT TITLE NM MainStreet Program Assistant Director

SB

ANALYST Earnest

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$75.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

House Bill 444 duplicates an appropriation in Section 4 of the General Appropriation Act for the

Economic Development Department’s recurring budget.

House Bill 444 also duplicates Senate Bill 400 and relates to Senate Bill 343 and House Bill 440.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Economic Development Department (EDD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 444 appropriates $75 thousand from the general fund to Economic Development

Department to create a new full-time position of assistant program director at the New Mexico

MainStreet program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $75 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall

revert to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The appropriation in the General Appropriation Act (GAA) for the Economic Development

Department includes $62.4 thousand and authorization for 1 FTE to serve as a MainStreet

program assistant director.

House Bill 444 – Page

2

According to EDD:

Currently, 21 communities are members of New Mexico MainStreet: Artesia, Bernalillo,

Carlsbad, Clovis, Corrales, Clayton, Deming, Downtown Action Team (ABQ),

Farmington, Grants, Hobbs, Las Cruces, Las Vegas, Los Alamos, Lovington, Portales,

Raton, Roswell, Santa Rosa, Silver City, and Tucumcari. MainStreets’s 6 satellite

communities are Aztec, Belen, Cochiti Lake, Questa, Quemado, and Reserve.

MainStreet also manages three special projects—Chihuahita Roswell, Shiprock Chapter

Navajo Nation, and the Zuni Pueblo—and has identified 5 potential Arts & Cultural

Districts, which are Las Cruces, Portales, Las Vegas, Raton and Silver City.

MainStreet’s program associates provide free training sessions on town design,

promotion and publicity, organization, and economic restructuring. MainStreet also

sponsors architecture projects through the University of New Mexico Design Planning

and Assistance Center (DPAC). In the last year, these towns embarked on DPAC

projects: Carlsbad, Dona Ana, Farmington, Los Alamos, Raton, Roswell, and Springer.

New Mexico MainStreet is the local division of the National Main Street Center in

Washington, D.C., part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

The NM MainStreet budget for FY08 is about $1 million. This includes salaries and benefits,

travel and other operating expenses for 2 FTE. The bulk of the funding, $825 thousand, is for

contractors who provide the specialized services – e.g., architectural design, marketing, strategic

planning, economic analysis, etc – to the communities. The budget has grown significantly since

2003. The largest increase came in 2006 when the Legislature appropriated an additional $500

thousand specifically for the program.

The Legislature has appropriated another $4.5 million in capital outlay over the last three years

for MainStreet projects statewide.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

According to EDD:

The New Mexico MainStreet program is literally stretched to the limit. With two full-

time staff, the program relies heavily on program associates (contractors) to provide

technical assistance, program services, and workshops on behalf of the department.

Although theses contractors provide an invaluable service to the program, they are unable

to assist MainStreet with the growing administrative responsibilities and new initiatives

the program has inherited. The most notable new initiative is the creation of Arts and

Cultural Districts throughout New Mexico.

Laws 2007, Chapter 160 (House Bill 606), created Arts and Cultural Districts as an economic

stimulus program for local communities. The Arts and Cultural District program is attached to

the Economic Development Department, which works in collaboration with Department of

Cultural Affairs, and is responsible for designating districts annually in New Mexico. The intent

was to support arts- and culture-based economic development for businesses, individuals,

organizations, agencies and institutions to work collaboratively and to formally structure that

collaboration creating an economic market niche. The legislation established EDD’s MainStreet

Program Director as the coordinator of the state’s efforts and the New Mexico Arts Commission

House Bill 444 – Page

3

as the authorizing body for such districts. The legislation did not include funding for the

administration and implementation of the initiative.

HB 440 and SB 343 appropriate $300 thousand for the creation of Arts and Cultural Districts,

but without the assistant director, according to EDD, the MainStreet program will not have the

human resources to successfully complete this initiative or grow the program beyond its existing

level of service.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 444 duplicates an appropriation in Section 4 of the General Appropriation Act for the

Economic Development Department’s recurring budget.

House Bill 444 also duplicates Senate Bill 400 and relates to Senate Bill 343 and House Bill 440.

BE/mt