DAILY LOBO new mexico
Dancing in the streets see page 10
wednesday
March 2, 2011
The Independent Voice of UNM since 1895
How much education does oil and gas fund?
CAMPUS ACTIVISM
Yale closes, business slows
by Andrew Beale abeale@unm.edu
by Chelsea Erven cerven@unm.edu
The Lead and Coal Improvement Project threw a wrench in residents and business owners’ lives when it tore up part of Yale Boulevard last month. Yale Boulevard closed between Avenida Cesar Chavez and Lead Avenue on Feb. 21, and because of construction, the area will be shut down as long as 30-60 days. Two Yale Boulevard-based auto repair shop owners said it’s difficult for automobiles to access the shops. “We’re not doing so good,” said Sonia Chavez, the owner of Full Throttle Performance auto repair shop. “They don’t make it easy for people to get here, but there’s not much we can do.” City officials didn’t return calls for comment about the construction. The road in front of Full Throttle Performance is blocked by a large dirt hole and several backhoes. Chavez said employees have moved construction blockades to get to the shop. Jim Glover, of JCM Automotive on Yale Boulevard, said he has seen a 70 percent decline in business since the construction began. He said JCM has been at St. Cyr Avenue and Yale Boulevard since 1975, and this isn’t the first time construction slowed business. “There’s been no drive-in traffic,” Glover said. “I wish construction companies would work on one segment of the road at a time. Dig it up, work on it, re-pave it, finish it and then move on to the next segment so it doesn’t impact such a large area.” Glover said he’s increased advertising and put fliers around UNM to draw attention to the shop. Quarters BBQ at Yale Boulevard and Avenida Cesar Chavez also increased advertising and posted large “We’re Open” signs and a map showing the best way to get to the restaurant. Business owners aren’t the only ones suffering through construction. UNM student Lucy Packard lives in the area, and she said she walks to
Courtesy of Thomas Whittaker As part of the “National Month of Action to Defend Public Education,” a group of UNM students and staff dropped several banners across campus as a way to draw attention to pending university and state budget cuts. Participants said they made the banners to demonstrate awareness and disapproval of budget cuts that they said target the core mission of the University.
see Yale page 3
The oil and gas industry in New Mexico contributes a major chunk of money to fund construction projects at public schools and universities around the state — but not quite as much as it claims, according to the chief financial officer of the Public School Facilities Authority. The oil and gas industry “provides over 90 percent of all school capital investment through the Permanent Fund,” according to information on the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association’s website and pamphlets handed out at the Roundhouse during legislative sessions. But Eaton, who oversees the Public School Facilities Authority, said that’s not the case. “That’s a false statement right there, because we don’t get our funding from the Permanent Fund,” he said. “The Severance Tax Permanent Fund and the Land Grant Permanent Fund have an annual distribution to the General Fund for general operating, based upon a formula set out by the state constitution, but there’s no funding that comes from the Permanent Funds to fund public school capital outlay.” Representatives from the New Mexico Legislature, the Legislative Finance Committee and the Public School Facilities Authority, as well as the house majority counsel on financial affairs, were unable to produce the exact contribution from oil and gas into the Permanent Funds. Contributions from oil and gas companies occur throughout the year from hundreds of different sources and are difficult to track. Severance taxes and land grants provide money to the two New Mexico permanent funds, according to the State Investment Council’s website. Severance taxes are collected from anything pulled out of the ground in New Mexico, while land grant taxes are collected from leases on public land. The oil and gas industry is a large contributor to both permanent funds, said Dennis Hazlett, the house majority counsel on financial affairs. He said the industry contributes to the Severance Tax Permanent Fund every time
LOBO WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
they remove resources from the ground, and since most oil and gas extraction is done on public land, it also contributes to the Land Grant Permanent Fund. The Permanent Funds act as reserves of money and are not meant to be spent on recurring expenses such as salaries, Hazlett said. Those expenses come out of the General Fund. New Mexico Oil and Gas Association President Steve Henke said money from the Severance Tax Permanent Fund pays off General Fund bonds that were used for capital outlay, or, in other words, construction projects. “Of the contributions received by the severance tax by statute, 87.5 percent goes to paying off and servicing bonds that were issued for capital outlays,” he said. “And that would be buildings and infrastructure and so forth, and a lot of that is related to the school system.”
“I think it’s just a matter of semantics.” ~Steve Henke President, NM Oil and Gas Association
Henke said this means the assertion that school capital outlay funding comes from the General Fund and not the permanent funds is irrelevant. “I think it’s just a matter of semantics,” he said. “Certainly, the school districts issue the bonds, but the Severance Tax funds service a lot of the bonds.” Even accounting for the capital outlay money transferred from the permanent funds to the General Fund, less than 90 percent of capital outlay money for school construction projects comes from oil and gas, Eaton said. “I can’t say that 90 percent of all capital outlay projects is funded by oil and gas. That’s just not a true statement,” he said. “There’s also general obligation bonds. There’s direct legislative appropriations. There’s the state portion, which is oil and gas.” House Majority Leader Ken Martinez said the oil and gas
see Funding page 5
BYU shoots to kill in last game at The Pit by Brandon Call bcall@unm.edu
The UNM women’s basketball team said goodbye to its two seniors — Amanda Best and Jessica Kielpinski — who played in their final home game Tuesday. Best scored 10 points and Kielpinski chipped in seven, but it wasn’t enough to beat league-leading Brigham Young.
Inside the
Daily Lobo volume 115
issue 110
The Cougars rained on the Lobos’ parade with a 65-49 road win on senior night in The Pit. “It’s an emotional loss for us,” Kielpinski said. “Just realizing it’s your last game, I think that I put a little more pressure on myself to play well. It was just another game, and I should have kept my composure a little better.” UNM kept up with BYU’s offense for the first 15 minutes of the game,
playing stingy defense and holding the Cougars to 6-of-22 shooting in the opening minutes. But then BYU went on a hot streak from long range, closing out the first half with six-straight 3s and heading into the locker room with a 31-21 lead. “I thought we were about half a step late contesting those 3s,” head coach Don Flanagan said. “I give them credit. They executed their
Where are we?
Getting ready for Fredette
See page 2
See page 6
shots, and they were finding the bottom of the net. But there’s no excuse. We’ve got to get out there to contest those shots faster.” After the break, the Lobos’ defense, which switched from the zone to man-to-man to better guard against the sharp-shooting Cougars, had difficulty inside against 6-foot7-inch BYU freshman Jennifer Hamson, who towered above Lobo defenders.
Hamson finished the game with six second-half points to spark an 11-2 BYU run in the second half. The Cougars ended the game shooting 11-of-18 from behind the arc. “We were playing their drive a little more,” Best said. “They had the size advantage in the paint. But we should have put a little more effort getting out on those shooters. Once
see BYU page 6
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