New Mexico lawmakers rewrite budget with less money to spend

SANTA FE (AP) – Legislative leaders in New Mexico’s House of Representatives are preserving pay increases for police and prison guards and trimming funding to higher education as they redraw next year’s state budget to offset falling revenue projections.
The House Appropriations and Finance Committee voted to move forward with $81 million in spending increases with no new taxes during the fiscal year starting in July.
That is a far cry from the roughly $230 million spending inc