Written by Paula Garcia, Executive Director of NMAA
The State Legislature passed an ambitious $7 billion budget in HB 2 which increased spending for education and road projects. The legislature also approved a capital outlay bill with over $900 million in spending for projects across the state, which are listed in SB 280 by county and by agency.
Overall, acequia budget priorities were included in the budget and capital outlay bills. The NMAA did not make any requests for additional program funding in HB 2 and the funding for FY2020 is the same as it was for the current year: $1.9 million for the acequia program at the Interstate Stream Commission, $398,000 for acequia education at the Local Government Division of DFA, $88,000 for the NM Acequia Commission, and a flat budget for the Acequia and Community Ditch Fund at the Department of Agriculture.
In the Capital Outlay bill, the highlight is a $2 million appropriation for Acequia Projects Statewide to the Interstate Stream Commission. This is in addition to the $1.9 million to the ISC for the acequia program. A similar appropriation was made to the ISC in 2014 and it was expended to support acequia construction projects over the course of three years.
Also, in the Capital Outlay bill, most of the acequias that requested funding were granted capital outlay appropriations. On the high end, Farmers Mutual Ditch in San Juan County, which serves over 600 irrigators and over 4,000 acres, received $3.2 million for water conveyance improvements. Most other appropriations ranged from $10,000 to $250,000. A complete list of acequias receiving Capital Outlay, totaling 39, is listed under the SB 280 agency list under the Interstate Stream Commission. The total on acequia capital outlay projects for FY2020 is $5.6 million.
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