New Mexico Agencies Improve Opioid Fund Spending After Initial Struggles, State Auditor Reports
New Mexico state agencies initially failed to spend approximately a quarter of the opioid settlement funds they received in the 2024 fiscal year, according to a report from the New Mexico State Auditor’s Office. These funds, totaling over $920 million for New Mexico, including $328 million for state agencies, are intended to address the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. In fiscal year 2024 (July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024), seven state agencies returned over $5 million of the $21 million they received, indicating that about 24% of the funding was unspent within the required timeframe. For instance, the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) did not spend any of the $2 million allocated for monitoring and supporting families with infants exposed to opioids. However, State Auditor Joseph Maestas noted significant improvement in subsequent fiscal years, with agencies spending all but approximately 1% of the roughly $32 million received in fiscal years 2025 and 2026. This improvement is at...
