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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Salazar

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/21/07

HB HM 26

SHORT TITLE Additional Law Enforcement in Chamita, NM

SB

ANALYST Peery-Galon

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

NA

$.1

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

No Responses Received From

Department of Public Safety (DPS)

New Mexico Association of Counties

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Memorial 26 states the House of Representatives of the State of New Mexico “recognize

that the residents of Chamita and the neighboring areas in Rio Arriba County have a dire need

for assignment of additional New Mexico State Police officers in those areas to reinforce

community efforts to halt and reverse the current escalation of criminal activity that is adversely

affecting the citizenry and degrading these communities." Also, the memorial states the house

recognizes the necessity for the required legislative action and appropriation of funds that will

enable the New Mexico State Police to assign additional law enforcement officers requested by

the residents of Chamita and the surrounding areas of Rio Arriba County.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The fiscal implication of the memorial is indirect in that it calls for the House of Representatives

of the State of New Mexico to recognize the necessity for required legislative action and

appropriation of funds to enable the state police to assign additional officers to Chamita and the

surrounding areas.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DPS uses manpower allocation formulas which are a combination of population and calls for

service to determine the number of officers required for staffing districts. DPS states to currently

House Memorial 26 – Page

2

authorize extra personnel would not be prudent until the New Mexico State Police can fill

existing vacancies. A recent salary increase has improved recruiting and the department hopes to

fill existing vacancies statewide. DPS notes that several communities around the state are

feeling the effects of high vacancy rates, as these vacancies decline the state police hope to better

address the needs of all rural New Mexico communities.

In January 2006, DPS completed a compensation plan that endorsed $6.4 million in pay raises

for commissioned officers. The compensation plan proposed for FY07, an average pay increase

of 17.3 percent for State Police officers, 20.2 percent for Special Investigation Division officers

and 18 percent for Motor Transportation Division officers. The Legislature and governor

appropriated a pay increase of $5.7 million for FY07. Although the appropriation for FY07 is

short by $650,100 from DPS’s compensation plan, the department is providing pay increases as

stated in the plan.

DPS’s Key Quarterly Measure Report, for the second quarter of fiscal year 2007, shows the New

Mexico State Police had 72, or 13.5 percent, vacant positions. The state police are authorized for

605 commissioned officers and have not had an increase in the number of commissioned officers

since fiscal year 2002.

Number of Appropriated State Police Officers by Assignment

State Police

Organizational Unit FY01 FY02 FY03 FY04 FY05 FY06 FY07

Chief's Office

4

4

4

6

8

8

7

Zone Commanders

2

2

2

2

2

2

2

Governor's Security

9

9

9

14 14 14 14

Special Operations

8

8

8

16 16 16 18

D-01 - Santa Fe

25 29 29 28 28 28 28

D-02 - Las Vegas

49 52 52 47 46 47 47

D-03 - Roswell

35 35 35 32 32 32 32

D-04 - Las Cruces

24 27 27 28 28 28 28

D-05 - Albuquerque 44 48 48 45 46 46 46

D-06 - Gallup

31 36 36 34 33 33 33

D-07 - Espanola

44 51 51 55 54 54 54

D-08 - Alamogordo

25 26 26 23 24 23 23

D-09 - Clovis

39 44 44 43 43 43 43

D-10 - Farmington

31 34 34 32 32 32 32

D-11 - Socorro

25 26 26 26 26 26 26

D-12 - Deming

31 36 36 33 34 33 33

Investigation Bureau 1

1

0

0

0

0

0

Criminal Section

49 56 56 57 57 57 57

Narcotics Section

53 60 61 63 62 63 62

State Police Training 12 12 12 12 11 11 12

Standards Bureau

9

9

9

9

9

9

8

TOTALS

550 605 605 605 605 605 605

Source: Department of Public Safety

RPG/mt