Santa Fe, NM – Months behind all other states in America, New Mexico has yet to release its 2013 Fiscal Information, late by more than 450 days at this point.
That is why this year Truth in Accounting is bestowing the annual Tortoise Award on New Mexico, again.
The Tortoise Award is a dubious honor, bestowed upon states who wait the longest to release their fiscal year information to their citizens. New Mexico has missed its self-imposed release deadline of 180 days after the fiscal year ends four years in a row.
Last year, they did not publish their 2012 data for 426 days after the fiscal year ended: fourteen months late. In 2011, 356 days after the fiscal year ended- that’s almost an entire calendar year. In 2010, 258 days. And in 2009, they were 262 days late.
More than all the ballooning unfunded pension liabilities and resulting governance problems, the lack of timely fiscal transparency is preventing New Mexico’s citizens from holding their elected officials accountable. Reliable and timely state financial information is crucial for citizens to hold government officials accountable.
For more information on fiscal responsibility at the state and Federal level, visit http://www.statedatalab.org/.
Read the full article on: Truth in Accounting