By Mary Alice Murphy

During the Grant County Commission regular session on Thursday, April 21, 2016, Sharon Stover, New Mexico Association of Counties president and Steve Kopelman, NMAC executive director, updated commissioners on issues facing counties and asked for input from the commission.

Stover said NMAC was established in 1936. "The NMAC Office is the place to be during the legislative session when you're not in a session. We want to hear county issues. It's a challenge to meet urban needs and rural needs."

New Mexico counties employ about 10,500 people, about the same as the cities, but the counties vary in population from 707 in Hardin County to 673,460 in Bernalillo County. County officials in the state are term-limited, whereas about 44 states do not have statewide imposed term limits, she said.

Kopelman said it strikes him that, in New Mexico, the burden is put on counties. "The state thinks that it's OK to keep putting unfunded mandates on the counties. They have to take care of 29,000 miles of road, but the gas tax has not increased since the 1980s. Counties are responsible for housing the judicial districts. The most challenging are the county jails, which are de facto drug treatment facilities. It's fabulous that you're building a treatment center. We are one of two states that have more people in county jails than in the penitentiary. In most states, the county jails are for misdemeanors. We also have twice as many women in county jails than in the penitentiary."

He asked what year the jail statute was developed. Two guessed 1936. Kopelman said the statute was developed in 1865.

"The jails have to deal with medical and behavioral health problems," Kopelman said. "You're providing essential services, yet you are not given the resources.

"All NMAC does is counties," he continued. "You, as a county, have been real involved. We have two full-time lobbyists and we have two folks who specialize in jails. Our risk management and self-insurance programs are popular. We have a finance director."

Stover said the mission of NMAC is to strengthen New Mexico counties' ability to govern their own affairs and to improve the wellbeing and quality of life of their constituents. "I've been in county government since 1979. The annual dues to NMAC are $17,000, while the annual dues to the municipal league are $77,000."

NMAC policy is summarized into eight key areas: county government; economic development; elections and accountable government; energy, environment and natural resources; healthcare and human services; infrastructure; justice and pubic safety; and taxation and revenue. "We make sure bills 'pass the smell test,' before promoting them. We oppose the preemption of local authority and we opposed unfunded mandates."

NMAC brings together affiliate chairs to develop the legislative agenda, and two-thirds majority of the board is required to put issues on the agenda.

"I am the chairman of the criminal justice reform policy committee," Stover said. "At the Hobbs conference in June, our tagline will be 'Igniting economic growth.'

"This was a difficult session, because of the budget issue," Kopelman said. "It may be time for another lawsuit on parole and probation violators. Last time we filed a lawsuit against the state, we won, and got more funding. We always have to play a lot of defense. Nineteen counties have imposed some or all of the three 1/8 increments to pay for the loss of hold harmless. The argument is that counties are getting more than they need. House Bill 233 would have stopped the phasing out of the Gross Receipts Tax Hold Harmless and would have brought you about a half million-dollar loss immediately. We did a full court press. When the county governments are united, we are the strongest lobbying group in the state.

"Another area is the indigent fund," Kopelman said. "If the money is not encumbered, it gets taken away. They took from the DWI program money to give to drug court and the general fund. The state thinks we're fair game."

He said probably lots of folks in this area go to El Paso or Tucson for health care. HB 270 protected people who get their health care by doctors or in hospitals outside the state. "All of a sudden, doctors in other states said they wouldn't treat New Mexico patients."

Senate Joint Resolution 1 will be on the ballot in November, as a constitutional amendment. "It would allow judges to deny bail if the prosecutor shows there is a clear danger if the suspect is released. The second part is if the suspect is not a flight risk or a danger, the state may not keep the person in detention if the sole reason is because of financial ability."

Under federal legislative agendas, NMAC supports the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) and Secure Rural Schools (SRS) programs extending full mandatory funding. "If Secure Rural Schools goes away, PILT will be drastically reduced," Kopelman said. "We also support long-term transportation funding and county priories in the MAP-21 reauthorization. We want to protect county interests in the Waters of the U.S. rulemaking, and we support the National Association of Counties in its Stepping Up initiative to reduce the number of people with mental illnesses in jails."

He said the advantage of pooling insurance costs for workers' comp, multi-line and law enforcement pools is "to take advantage of the economies of scale. If we have a good experience insurance-wise, we return money to the counties."

Stover noted a new program is the county employee voluntary benefits program, "which doesn't cost the county anything. It's a benefit for employees to purchase these benefits as a lower cost than anywhere else. The employees cannot be denied the coverage and can take the benefits with them if they leave county employment."

NMAC also offers professional development courses at conferences and at New Mexico EDGE, as well as through NACo. Stover said Grant County's Gila Regional Medical Center Controller Elizabeth Allred is on the NACo Health Care Committee.

"What are your issues?" Stover asked. "How can NMAC be a better partner?

Commissioner Ron Hall said: "We have a pie, but the toughest job is that we want to help everyone, but we run out of pie. Unfunded mandates are scary. And right now, the state wants to pick our pockets and we can't control it. Roads are a safety issue. The substance abuse treatment center, Tu Casa, is citizens putting it together. Keeping up with facilities is a challenge. We are mandated to keep up the District Court, but we have to put in our own money. Keeping probation violators in our jails costs us money."

Kopelman agreed that state probation violators cost counties $40 million a year. "They sit in the county jails for 70 days on average."

"To meet all these mandates, we have to rob Peter to pay Paul," Hall said.

Commissioner Gabriel Ramos said the big thing is the jail and all the unfunded mandates.

"Add in the threatened gross receipts tax reset," Commission Chairman Brett Kasten said.

"We have consistently heard that the jails and the safety care net pool are major hurdles for counties," Stover said.

"We are constantly being underfunded," Kasten said. "Let counties manage our own business."

"The presentation you gave today is so important," Hall said. "We preach this month after month here in these meetings. We have to get the state's attention, and you've said it all."

The next commissioners meeting will be a combined work and regular session on Tuesday, May 10, at 9 a.m. at the Grant County Administration Center.