New Mexico Municipal League

171 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 primarily due to the oil patch and industry located there,” he highlights. “However there are not a lot of flights there as far as rural air service, but there are a lot of private company jets that come in and out,” he adds. When it comes to the general municipal infrastructure piece of the legislative puzzle, NMML sees areas that members have brought to them as top priorities. “We are trying to focus on health and safety first. So whether it be water or wastewater, we are really focusing on having 100% funding of roads and we are trying to dedicate more recurring funding to our roads in New Mexico whether it be local or state,” Forte notes. Beyond advocating for its members, NMML is also the insurer for about 94 municipalities. “We get calls on anything you could imagine to write. We represent them from liability, workman’s compensation, and property insurance. It is a diverse spectrum of what they ask us about,” Forte describes. Revenue is also an area that the New Mexico Municipal League focuses its efforts on. “We lend a lot of support and do lots of training for how to track revenue because tax and revenue is the ultimate gatekeeper. They collect the revenue and they distribute it,” Forte pinpoints. “Working with our members whether it be our managers, finance officers, or clerks to make sure they understand the revenue that comes into the local government. I think this is number one.” Nichols also highlights that the NMML actively publishes topical material to help its members be informed on any new legislative updates. “We put out a publication on revenue sources that help our members understand tax legislative structure and we also put out a quarterly general newsletter during our legislative session,” Nichols says. When asked what the future might look like for the NMML, both Forte and Nichols agreed that the continued education role will be of primary continued importance, as will be the need to push for state and federal funding for the articulated needs of the members it represents. “We do our best to work with all sides as a nonpartisan organization. We want to understand the best solution and continue to stove for what is the middle ground.” Forte concludes.