The letter below is from Cabinet Secretary, Thomas Clifford, and is addressed to local governmental entities, including acequias, asking that they fill out a survey regarding Capital Outlay. The deadline to fill out this survey is Friday, December 21st 2012. 

December 11, 2012

Dear New Mexico Entities:

I am writing to request your assistance with improving the way we prioritize capital outlay spending in New Mexico. For too long we have allocated scarce capital outlay dollars to projects that fail to meet New Mexico's critical infrastructure needs. Governor Martinez has made it clear that she supports funding critical, local capital projects, but feels that the best way to assure the public that their tax dollars are being spent wisely is through a process that reflects clear criteria for prioritizing projects.

Through Executive Order 2012-023, the Governor directed the Department of Finance and Administration and the Property Control Division of the General Services Department to make recommendations concerning capital improvement projects needed across the state using standardized criteria. The departments developed questions and assigned scores to each criterion which can be used to evaluate and prioritize the most critical projects. The process was used by the Capital Outlay Committee, a joint effort by executive and legislative staff, to evaluate and rank state agency and higher education institutions' top priorities.

In order to complete a comprehensive statewide capital outlay budget, I invite you to participate and identify projects in your district to be included in the Executive Capital Budget. Please complete the attached questionnaire which will help identify projects that are: (1) critically important to local communities; (2) adequately funded (or have a plan to reach adequate funding); (3) an appropriate use of severance tax bonds; and (4) projects for which no other funding mechanisms are available. As you evaluate a particular project, please be particularly mindful of whether alternative sources of funding may be available that are more appropriate than Severance Tax Bond grants. Examples of such funding include federal funds such as the Drinking Water Revolving Loan Fund, the Clean Water Revolving Loan Fund, Community Development Block Grants, severance tax bonds earmarked for public schools, the Tribal Infrastructure Fund, the Colonias Fund, the Water Trust Board, and funding through programs managed by the New Mexico Finance Authority.

The following excerpt from a report prepared for the U.S. EPA in 2007 indicates the state has not done a good job of prioritizing the use of federal funds, often substituting state grant revenue when federal money is available. As you know, we should be working harder to maximize federal funding opportunities whenever possible.

Specifically, the report noted:

"From this review, Northbridge concluded that the primary reason for DWRLF' fund under-utilization is competition from other water infrastructure financing programs. New Mexico communities and water systems have easy access to an abundance of infrastructure financing sources, several of which are more affordable and have fewer conditions than the DWRLF "

Please complete the questionnaire which will assist us in evaluating member requests and return it by December 21, 2012 to Deborah Romero, DFA, Capital Outlay Bureau. This form is available electronically at http://www.nmdfa.state.nm.us/Capital_Outlay_Bureau.aspx

You may email it to debbie.romero@state.nm.us or mail it to:

DFA, State Budget Division

Capital Outlay Bureau

194 Bataan Memorial Building

Santa Fe, NM 87501

In addition, we recognize that many of you may also be submitting capital requests through Legislative Council Service. If you would like to share those submissions with us for the purpose of providing additional background information regarding the importance of your request, please provide a copy of your Legislative Council Service form with the attached questionnaire to Deborah Romero, DFA, Capital Outlay Bureau.

If you have any questions, please feel free to call Deborah Romero at (505) 827-3651.  

Sincerely,