SANTA FE – The New Mexico Human Services Department has published a first-of-its-kind data book that summarizes the state’s social, economic and health statistics.
Department officials said the book is designed to help with comparisons of national-, state- and county-level data.
Human Services Secretary David Scrase said the information can be used to identify the state’s areas of greatest need.
The agency serves more than 1 million New Mexicans – or nearly half the state’s population – through Medicaid, food stamps, child support and other government assistance programs for low-income residents.
Enrollment maps that are part of the data book help illustrate the number of people served by major agency programs as well total program expenditures by county. Also included are maps that show enrollment among Native Americans.
There also are fact sheets that outline budget requests. For example, the request for the next fiscal year is nearly $7.8 billion, with $1.2 billion of that from the state general fund. Nearly 85% of the agency’s budget is funded by federal matching money from a variety of programs.
Officials said that over the past several years, the Human Services Department has managed its programs with little to no new general fund appropriations.
