NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – Kids are back in school but it’s the state of New Mexico that’s getting a report card. On Thursday, the Legislative Finance Committee was presented with a State of the State report card which rates each state department. Under the rating rubric, green means the agency is meeting its target, yellow means it’s slightly off target, and red means it’s failing.
“We are seeing a reduction in red ratings. We had 12 in FY23 and now we have seven. That means we have more agencies in the categories of yellow and green,” said Helen Gaussoin, analyst for the LFC.
But, nine programs in departments did move down in their ratings from a year ago. “We are continuing to see weaknesses in many of the critical social care services and the number of programs with lower rating than a year ago is a concern,” said Gaussoin.
In the report card, courts and justice agencies, the Economic Development Department, the Tourism Department, and the Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources Department all had strong performances. According to the report, in courts and judicial agencies, district attorneys were able to lower the average caseloads to staff, and the EMNRD trained a record number of firefighters. The department also conducted nearly 40,000 oil and gas well inspections.