The New Mexico State Legislature convened on Tuesday, Jan. 19, to begin a 30-day session that will focus mostly on what can be done to solve the state's budget dilemma.

The task at hand will be eliminating $200 million of what started out to be a $600 million budget shortfall.

As a member of the Legislative Appropriations Committee, state Rep. Don Tripp, R-Socorro, has special insight into the state's budget and will play a key role in resolving the problem. He is one of eight House representatives on the 16-member committee that is responsible for putting together the final budget for fiscal year 2010-2011.

During an interview with El Defensor Chieftain just before he left to hunker down in Santa Fe, Tripp said fixing the budget is going to mean some belt tightening by everyone. But he doesn't believe anyone — cities and counties, school districts and especially New Mexico residents — are going to be too terribly hurt by the end result.

"I feel we can come out with a budget that everyone can live with," he said, and added that people won't like it because there will likely be cuts across the board. "Everyone will hate it, but it won't drastically hurt anyone and there will be almost no layoffs. There will be small cuts, but it won't be catastrophic for anyone."

Tripp said Gov. Bill Richardson hadn't given much indication of what he'll propose in advance of the session. But Tripp expects to see the governor introduce a set of "revenue enhancements," which Tripp suggested is another way of saying "taxes."

Neither the governor nor the Legislature want to see New Mexico residents absorb increases that would affect their personal income taxes, Tripp said. It's more likely people will pay by way of a one-fourth of 1 percent increase in Gross Receipt Taxes, and the governor hasn't ruled out alcohol and tobacco tax increases.

Tripp said he expects the state will rely partly on short-term severance tax notes, or "sponge bonds," to help keep the economy afloat in the short term. He's optimistic about the long-term forecast for the economy, though, feeling the recovery is well under way and people who are most vulnerable won't be too harshly affected.

Instead of increasing taxes to raise revenues, Tripp said working from the opposite end and focusing on ways to increase savings is another way to go.

"The Catch-22 we have right now is trying to get through the year and not hurt anybody," he said. "We're desperately looking at savings, because we know there's a lot out there. We need to look at savings and how things are done ... The main thing is we have to look at the way we do government."

Tripp was freshly influenced by a report he had just received from the Committee of Government Efficiency, appointed by the governor himself.

Members included five former Department of Finance officials — including New Mexico Tech's President Daniel H. López — and was headed by former governor Garrey Carruthers.

Although the committee produced its "Recommendations of Improving Government Efficiency" report on an admittedly short schedule and was only able to identify and evaluate "the low hanging fruit," the committee figured an estimated $129 million could be saved by making state government more efficient. Part of the savings could be achieved by consolidating departments and eliminating boards and commissions that are no longer active or effective.

"The governor doesn't want to cut personnel, but that's where the big money is in state government," said Tripp.

While some state employees may lose their jobs, Tripp said he didn't think it would be many. Another approach to streamlining state government, he said, is to eliminate positions currently vacant. There are 3,900 vacancies now, he said, and not all of them are exempt positions.

"There are vacancies in state government that are being funded, and that's a real good place to make cuts," he said.

Other ways Tripp said state government can save money is by cutting back on generous benefits packages paid to state employees, making changes to Medicaid and modifying funding for public schools and higher education.

Education takes up a big chunk of the state's budget, but Tripp doesn't see schools suffering more than other entities. He anticipates school districts across the state can expect about a 2 percent cut.

What he hopes to see happen is that the state keeps out of it and lets the school districts decide for themselves where cuts can be made.

"The main thing is the superintendents, they want to be able to make the cuts they want to make and not have it mandated," Tripp said. "They want more of a say-so in how it's spent, and we need to give them the latitude to make cuts and the latitude for how they spend money."

As for higher education, Tripp said the state can save money by revising the funding formula and getting a handle on its support of two-year and vocational schools.

Just as with public schools, Tripp said college administrators also need to have latitude for determining where cuts are made.

Asked about the impact the budget session might have on New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, Tripp said the engineering and research university should come out OK.

"Tech has been proactive and positioned themselves to insolate itself from any shortfalls," he said. "It's imperative that they have versatility in how they make their cuts."

Tripp said there won't be much new capital available and many projects municipalities have on their wish list — some of which have been de-authorized or canceled — may remain stalled. But he hopes some local projects can continue to move forward.

In Socorro, he hopes to help revive the construction of a baseball-softball field that is a joint venture between the City of Socorro and Socorro Consolidated Schools.

Tripp will continue efforts for a health clinic to be built in Veguita. There is a drainage plan in development in Magdalena and an irrigation project in Luna, in Catron County, that he would like to see finished.

The representative said he plans to introduce two or three appropriation bills in case there is capital available.

"I don't think there will be much, but at least we'll have our foot in the door if there is," he said.

Tripp said he will also be advocating to rework property tax regulations to standardize them throughout the state. Currently, each county comes up with its own rules.

"We need statewide guidelines for how assessments are done," he said.

Another piece of legislation he will spearhead is aimed at taking preventative measures to control mussels and other aquatic species from invading New Mexico's lakes and rivers.

While the Legislature faces a tough task this legislative session in trying to navigate a way through rough economic seas, Tripp has faith state residents will be able to weather the storm.

"We'll get through it fine, and try to take care of the people who are most vulnerable," he said.

Contact T.S. Last