A Public Service of Santa Fe Community College
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Feb. 17 First News: Santa Fe City Budget Shortfall For FY2016 Rises To $18 million

The Santa Fe City Council has been trying to find ways to cover an estimated 15 million-dollar budget shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year. Now, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican, it turns out they need to come up with another three million dollars to cover the cost of needed maintenance that’s been postponed for years. City Finance director Oscar Rodriguez says that since the City Different began racking up its deficit in 2008, Santa Fe officials have declined to raise local taxes or cut city services, in some cases even increasing services while city resources have dwindled. In addition to taking resources from the city water fund, City Councilors and other officials have sought to cope with the shortfall by using money set aside for construction to pay for everyday operations, and have converted some permanent city jobs to temporary ones to avoid spending on benefits. Rodriguez says that at the end of the day, the only way he sees to cover the deficit is to cut services—which means eliminating some city jobs. Meanwhile, all but one candidate for City Council District 1, the only contested race in the upcoming city council election, say they’d need to consider raising local income or gross receipts taxes to close the gap. 

A $1 million donation from a nonprofit group is expected to triple the acres thinned along the Rio Grande Valley in northern New Mexico and help leverage more funding for restoration projects. The Nature Conservancy says the funding comes from the Wyoming-based LOR Foundation. It marks the second donation by the foundation to the Rio Grande Water Fund. The fund uses donations to increase the scale and scope of forest thinning to improve watershed conditions and minimize the risk of wildfires. Officials say the additional funding will be used in the Taos area. They also plan to create a template for restoration strategies that can be shared with other communities. Supporters of Rio Grande Water Fund have set a goal of restoring more than a half-million acres in 20 years.

The New Mexico Legislature has abandoned efforts to establish an ethics commission this year that would oversee the conduct of public officials, lobbyists and state contractors. A proposed constitutional amendment to create an independent ethics agency died in a Senate committee on Tuesday after requests were made to rein in the authority of the agency. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican, Republican Representative Jim Dines of Albuquerque pulled his own bill from consideration after he said the Senate committee gutted it. The plan was an ambitious component of reforms proposed in response to a campaign finance scandal last year that led the resignation and jailing of former Secretary of State Dianna Duran. The House of Representatives voted a week ago in favor of creating the ethics commission to subpoena witnesses and government records and issue civil citations and penalties under a long list of laws regarding campaign contributions, lobbying and gift giving.

A House committee has sidelined a measure aimed at shoring up New Mexico's struggling lottery scholarship program. With just days remaining until adjournment, the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday pulled the brakes on a proposal that would have revamped the funding formula for the scholarship program. The measure would have removed a requirement that the lottery authority funnel at least 30 percent of its monthly revenue to the scholarship program. Instead, it would have been required to provide at least $41 million a year for scholarships. Critics were concerned that would limit the incentive to raise more money for scholarships, but higher education officials say without a fix there's no doubt the program will be affected. Current estimates show there could be a 30 percent drop in tuition assistance at the end of the 2017 fiscal year.

The New Mexico House of Representatives announces it will begin archiving webcasts of its committee meetings during the next legislative session. Democratic Representative Jeff Steinborn of Las Cruces announced via a press release Tuesday evening that his measure, House Resolution 1, was adopted to require that webcasts of committee meetings be made available to the public in an online archive for five years after the date each meeting is held. Steinborn was the sponsor of the 2010 rule that required webcasting of House committee meetings. He called the adoption of the new rule, which affects only the House of Representatives, and which he has introduced in each of the past three legislative sessions, a “huge step forward in increasing the transparency of the New Mexico House of Representatives.” This year, his House colleagues agreed, passing the resolution unanimously.

A proposal for tougher sentencing laws for possessing, distributing and manufacturing child pornography images has cleared the Senate Finance Committee — with a much-debated amendment that says teens caught sexting wouldn't be prosecuted under the legislation. The bill went before the committee Tuesday evening after clearing a House floor vote, and two other senate committees — where it was amended twice. Attorney General Hector Balderas, a Democrat, had advocated for the legislation and since the start of the session, called on lawmakers to pass it, saying current state laws for punishing child pornographers are too lax. But James Hallinan, a spokesman for Balderas, said after the vote that the attorney general's office wouldn't support the measure as amended. Sen. George Munoz of Gallup raised concern that the proposed law could unintentionally classify teens caught sexting as child pornographers.

Authorities say four people were sent to the hospital and dozens of others complained of minor injuries following a three-vehicle crash involving a bus near Albuquerque. Bernalillo County Sheriff's Sgt. Aaron Williamson says the crash occurred Tuesday night and forced the closure of Interstate 40, near 98th Street. He tells The Associated Press that 47 people complained of injuries, but just four were taken to the hospital with nonlife-threatening injuries. Some others received aid at the scene for minor injuries and complaints. The westbound lanes of the interstate through Albuquerque were closed for several hours. Williamson says details are still sketchy but it appears all three vehicles were traveling in the same westbound direction when the crash occurred, and that the bus — from a local rescue mission — remained upright.

New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez won't be traveling to the city of her birth to see Pope Francis. A spokesman for Martinez said because the Legislative session was wrapping up this week the governor can't make time to travel Wednesday to El Paso, Texas for events surrounding the pope. Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico's northern border across from El Paso, is the last stop in the pope's schedule 5-day visit to Mexico. Pope Francis is slated to finish his Ciudad Juarez trip on Wednesday with the open-air Mass in a large field near Benito Juarez Stadium. The El Paso Catholic Diocese also is streaming the Papal Mass at the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Martinez attended a White House event in September welcoming Pope Francis to the United States.

And the weather in Santa Fe: Today, Sunny, with a high near 63. Tonight, mostly clear, with a low around 40 degrees. Thursday, Mostly sunny and breezy, with a high near 64.