Business View Civil and Municipal l December 2022

45 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 airports that serve as local gateways into the state, the league is kept busy in legislative advocacy efforts to allocate state and federal funding in three key areas: tax policy, public municipal infrastructure projects, and public safety. A nonpartisan association made up of 106 member villages, towns, and cities that represent all of the States municipal residents, or roughly three-quarters of the state’s population, the New Mexico Municipal League consists of 26 municipal officials elected by the membership as well as 10 ex officio subsection presidents. Supporting the work of the league’s officials is an experienced and expert team of 25 support staff and a permanent, full-time executive director. For Aj Forte, the current Executive Director of the New Mexico Municipal League, the answers to tackling the basis of the state’s legislative agenda can be found in what the towns and city members are articulating as being their primary needs. “We represent all 106 cities, towns, and villages in the state of New Mexico,” Forte says. “We advocate anything they [towns and cities] need and identify it through a policy and resolution process in the interim. We spend, from start to finish, roughly six months developing local government priorities and ultimately draft legislation to solve the problems that they bring forward.” Although continued general infrastructure upgrades have been identified as a priority by its members, this year’s focus, Forte explains, is geared predominantly toward airport funding. “Airport funding is something that has been neglected and we’ve done our best to get a list of projects that are needed within all of our municipal airports,” Forte details. Forte outlines that the state has an increased post-pandemic number of aircraft. “ We have really small airports, Magdalena for example, that can house another 20 aircraft if they were to have airport hangers.” NEW MEX I CO MUNI C I PAL LEAGUE (NMML )