Proposed budget offers raises, $750 rebate

All state government and public school employees in New Mexico would get a 4% raise and all taxpayers would receive a $750 rebate before July under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s executive budget recommendation for the 2024 fiscal year.

The governor’s $9.4 billion spending plan, unveiled Tuesday, represents a nearly 12% increase over the current fiscal year. The executive recommendation would maintain reserves at nearly 35%, which the Governor’s Office said are among the highest in state history.

The proposed budget, which increases investments in such priority areas as education, public safety and housing and homelessness, comes on the heels of record revenue projections for the state of New Mexico. Recurring revenues for fiscal year 2024 are projected to reach close to $12 billion, including $3.6 billion in so-called new money.

“Today, we have a historic opportunity for change in the state of New Mexico,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement.

The governor, who won a second four-year term in November, said the spending plan builds on what she said was the progress and success of her first term and continues “to improve the lives of the people of New Mexico by funding programs, policies and initiatives that we know are working.”

The proposed budget, which will be a key part of the upcoming legislative session that begins this week, “also empowers the state to continue to take on new and innovative strategies that are disrupting the status quo, that help our children, our families, our schools, our small businesses and our entire economy to grow and prosper,” Lujan Grisham said.

Among the highlights:

• $220 million to extend in-classroom learning time by the equivalent of two weeks.

• $200 million to increase and improve health care access in rural New Mexico.

• $100 million to recruit more law enforcement officers.

• $30 million to provide free school meals to every student in the state.

• $25 million for rental assistance and eviction prevention.

• $10 million to build a health clinic in Southern New Mexico that would provide a full spectrum of reproductive health care, including abortion.

• $2.2 million to create and staff two elite crews to fight wildfires.

• $128 million for water infrastructure improvements.

The tax rebates of $750 for single filers and $1,500 for joint filers would cost an estimated $1 billion and be made available in the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, under the governor’s budget proposal.

Funding also would be “designated to provide relief to non-filers on a first-come, first-serve basis,” according to the proposed budget.

“This Executive Budget Recommendation sets the priorities that we all care about the most at front and center — education and wellbeing, housing and homelessness, public safety, accessible and affordable healthcare, and keeping more money in the pockets of New Mexicans,” the governor wrote in an open letter accompanying her spending plan.

In addition to a 4% raise for all school staff, the governor is proposing to cover the cost of every educator’s health insurance benefits.

“Last year, I was incredibly proud to deliver the largest raises to New Mexico teachers ever, making our educators the highest paid in the region,” the governor wrote, adding 350 additional teachers joined the ranks around the state over the fall as a result of the investments in education.

The governor last year signed a bill into law that increased the minimum pay at each level of the state’s three-tiered teacher licensing system by $10,000.

“We’re going to keep working to make our salaries stay competitive with surrounding states and our teachers are compensated for their incredible work they do every day to build brighter futures for our kids,” she wrote. “As such, I’m proposing fully subsidizing health care benefits for educators, making New Mexico an ever better place to live and teach.”