State budget shortfall could hurt developmentally disabled residents
LAS CRUCES - State Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, is frustrated. Kay Lilley, project manager of The Beloved Community Project, in Las Cruces, is concerned.
Their anxieties are due to a shortfall in the state budget, and the possibility of a $7.4 million cut in state Department of Health services for intellectually and developmentally disabled residents.
"I am frustrated," said Soules, after meeting with Lilley and other Las Crucens about the proposed elimination of state funding to offset projected losses in state revenues. "I worked hard to get Senate Memorial 20 carried the first year I was in office (2013) and now it looks like it's going away. There was over 6,000 people on a waiting list to get these services."
Because of substantial declines, particularly in oil and gas revenues, a special session of the New Mexico Legislature is going to be called in September. At that time, lawmakers could have to deal with resolving an approximate $200 million deficit — or potentially more.
Read more: http://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/2016/08/20/state-budget-shortfall-could-hurt-developmentally-disabled-residents/89026360/