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Everyone in this forum probably agrees that New Mexico needs to lure more companies to the state, improve the education system, and reduce the number of people living in poverty. If you were governor, what practical solutions and others would you propose?
Uhhh....well, first, before proposing anything, such a governor would have to raise the money for the grandiose proposals. That would be quite a trick. Certainly beyond my capabilities and imagination. Remember, the state budget now has kissed goodbye higher ed tuition, and is providing free higher ed to all who qualify. That's a lot of faculty salaries, operating funds, building funds, and pensions to pay for.
I'd like to see the government successfully chew that big bite they just took out of the budget, before they promise anything else.
This thread looks like a repeat of the other one called "Improving NM".
New Mexico ended 2022 with a $3.5 billion budget surplus. I posted in the other thread what the Governor is proposing to do with the money. They are hashing this out at the Roundhouse this session.
Spending some of the money to improve education is a good idea. If they raise teacher salaries, NM would be able to attract more teachers. There's still a severe shortage, AFAIK. Honestly, 3.5 billion doesn't sound like a whole lot, when you look at the overall shopping list or wish list for the state, IOW the level of need. But it's a good start. Let's hope they make good use of it.
Aries63, thank you for the link to the Abq Journal article, which mentions that crime is also a high priority. It also points out that 80% of the residents favor retaining third graders who do not read at grade level. Assuming that you agree, how would you achieve that if put in charge of the purse strings?
It's a vicious circle: few companies want to move here, because schools are lousy. In order to improve schools, tax-based funds are needed. How does the state resolve this seemingly unending problem?
I don't know that I agree with the 80%. I remain neutral on matters of education since I don't have kids. Let the parents decide. Maybe the kids can get up to speed at summer school.
Demographically, the population of school-age children in NM is declining, the birth rate is declining and is now lower than the death rate, so maybe we won't need more companies moving in. There won't be enough people to hire. Don't we have enough companies here already? Why do we want to lure more here? New Mexico unemployment stands at 3.9% as of December. There are lots of help wanted signs around.
Ruth4Truth, that $3.5 billion figure is the surplus, out of a total of $12 billion in revenues.
The first thing I would do is get rid of the Gross Receipts Tax and replace it with a Sales Tax. That action alone will attract more business to the state. I'd also do whatever possible to attract medical professionals to the state by lowering the malpractice insurance rules. If you want long term retirees to settle there you better have adequate medical care. It's obvious what they are doing right now to achieve that goal is not working.
Secondly the state budget is heavily dependent on Oil & Gas in a couple sectors of the state, and that aspect will mask whatever policy you do the first few years, especially when commodity prices go down.
The first thing I would do is get rid of the Gross Receipts Tax and replace it with a Sales Tax. That action alone will attract more business to the state. I'd also do whatever possible to attract medical professionals to the state by lowering the malpractice insurance rules. If you want long term retirees to settle there you better have adequate medical care. It's obvious what they are doing right now to achieve that goal is not working.
Secondly the state budget is heavily dependent on Oil & Gas in a couple sectors of the state, and that aspect will mask whatever policy you do the first few years, especially when commodity prices go down.
Excellent post Paleo99. I agree completely with you.
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