SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is urging state lawmakers to tap state reserves and federal recovery money to preserve some state spending increases, including a 2% pay bump for public school personnel and state workers, cutting in half the raises approved in January.
The comments on Wednesday came as New Mexico state lawmakers confront a harrowing decline in annual state government income linked to economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
State government economists on Wednesday revised estimates for state government income downward by $439 million for the current fiscal year ending on June 30 and by just under $2 billion for the coming fiscal year.