With Start of New Mexico’s 2008 Fiscal Year Rio Grande Foundation’s “Spend-O-Meter” Starts Spinning 9 percent Faster

(Albuquerque, New Mexico) Over the weekend, New Mexico’s 2007 fiscal year ended and its 2008 fiscal year began. With that transition, the Rio Grande Foundation’s “Spend-O-Meter,” which tracks the amount of money the state spends, will start spending 9 percent faster.

At approximately $433 per second, New Mexico spends far too fast for the human eye to see, but by logging on to the Rio Grande Foundation’s website www.riograndefoundation.org, taxpayers and policymakers can see the real-time spending of the State of New Mexico for the current fiscal year.

As Foundation President Paul Gessing noted, “With its up-to-the-moment numbers, the New Mexico Budget Spend-O-Meter clearly illustrates to New Mexicans just how fast their money is being spent. It also exposes the fact that our state government spends far more money than most of us realize.”

Gessing pointed out that “Most discussions about New Mexico’s budget focus on the General Fund, which will total $5.6 billion in FY 2008. But, during the 2008 fiscal year, New Mexico’s government will spend 13.6 billion taxpayer dollars.

According to Rio Grande Foundation calculations, New Mexico’s government is on pace to spend $6,957 for every man, woman, and child in the state. Based on data from the New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department estimating that there are 875,000 tax filers in the state, the state plans to spend $15,542 for each and every tax filer in FY 2008. That works out to over $1,295 every month for each-and-every New Mexican that filed a tax return.

Gessing concluded by saying, “It is time for New Mexicans to ask themselves whether they are really getting their money’s worth from all of this spending.” On the other hand, he said “Every legislator should make it a priority to trim spending and slow the Spend-O-Meter.”

The New Mexico Budget Spend-O-Meter is available at the Rio Grande Foundation website, www.riograndefoundation.org.