Gov. Bill Richardson got over $57 million in discretionary funds under the 2009 federal stimulus bill.  What’s he doing with the money? Here’s the latest tally, numbers provided by the New Mexico Office of Recovery and Reinvestment.

First, those projects for which a formal notice of fund allocation has been issued, meaning the money is encumbered and actually allocated on the state’s books and therefore ready to be spent:

1.  The Rail Runner:  $643,500. These funds will cover direct operating costs, excluding maintenance, for an approximate period of two weeks.   According to the NMORR, the funds will be completely expended after that time.

2.  New Mexico Office of Recovery and Reinvestment:  $1 million. This money opened and supports the office that serves as the clearing house for funding requests and reports.

3.  Solar Schools Initiative:  $10 million. These funds went to the NM Public Education Department to, according to the public notice issued by the Governor’s office, “purchase and install 100 kilowatt solar photovoltaic or solar electric systems in 15 to 20 public schools statewide.  The funds are intended to support clean eneergy education and demonstrate the benefits of commercial-scale photovoltaic systems.

We have asked the Public Education Department whether the solar panels will be purchased from New Mexico or other U.S. manufacturers or from foreign, particularly Chinese manufacturers.  We are waiting on their response and will supplement this report with their information.

4.  Graduate New Mexico Initiative and Administration:  $9.4 million. The notice of government services fund allocation issued by the Governor’s office states that this allocation to the Public Education Department is “to support state and local education reform initiative and progress toward education reform goals by implementing increased public education funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the following initiatives:

• Credit for returning students
• Adult mentors for returning students
• Grassroots outreach
• Teacher incentive for high-need schools
• Pay for performance
• Parent involvement–media campaign, parent training, tool kit training
• LOGRAR leadership institute
• Gap summits
• Cultural competency training
• Office of Hispanic Education
• Graduate New Mexico report card
• Turnaround specialists
• Student data matching
• Compliance reporting and data improvement, and
• Administrative services for cash management and flow through

NOTE:  This notice was signed by the Governor on Novemember 19, 2009, before the legislation to create the Hispanic Education Department had even been introduced.  We have an inquiry to the Public Education Department asking if funds from this allocation will be used to fund the Hispanic Education Department.  The Legislature did not appropriate money for the HED as part of the authorizing legislation.

5. General Assistance Program:  $2 million. This was the first allocation made of the Governor’s Discretionary Funds.  Those moneys went to the Human Services Department.

Announced but Not Yet Formally Awarded.

The executive order issued by the Governor regarding his discretionary funds requires the issuance of a “notice of government services fund allocation” to formally encumber and permit disbursement of the funds.  The following allocations of his discretionary funds have been announced by the Governor, but no “notice of government services fund allocation” has yet been signed for them.

1.  College of Santa Fe:  $4 million. Gov. Richardson announced in May 2009 that he would kick in $4 million from discretionary stimulus funds to help bail out the financially unstable institution.

2.  Local government assistance:  $22 million. On July 23, 2009, the Governor’s office issued a press release stating:  “responding to requests from New Mexico communities, today announced plans to make $22 million in federal stimulus money available for dozens of shovel-ready projects.”  The release quoted the Governor as saying, “This money not only creates jobs; it addresses critical needs that these communities have identified as priorities.”  Some or all of these funds may be subject to the budget bills pending before the Governor at this time.

The total for all these projects comes to just over $49 million, leaving the Governor with a balance of almost $ 8 million.