Rodriguez is suing DDS, a state agency funded completely by the federal government, for discrimination, retaliation and violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act. She claims her employers discriminated against her with “threats, reprisals and retaliation” for her own disability, major depression disorder.

“I’d go to work and get beat up,” Rodriguez says. “They made me feel horrible. They made me feel like I was just incompetent.”

According to the TRIP report: 21 percent of New Mexico’s major roads are in either poor or mediocre condition 44 percent of roads in the Albuquerque metro area are in poor or mediocre condition 23 percent of Santa Fe’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition Driving on rough roads costs the average New Mexico motorist $236 annually and $322 million in vehicle operating costs The average Albuquerque driver loses $392 each year due to deteriorated roads; $310 for the average Santa Fe driver

This year HB 410 is aimed at taking one-quarter of the four-percent excise tax paid on every car purchase and putting it in a highway project fund. Over time the state transportation commission would issue bonds and repay them from the fund. Representative Lundstrom says the initial $50-million from excise taxes would be used to complete languishing road projects in all parts of the state:

The study, prepared for the Santa Fe Community Foundation with information culled from the district’s database, found that seven local funders — including the Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation, the McCune Charitable Foundation and Dollars4Schools — donate the majority of the district’s funding from nonprofits and other private donors — about $1.9 million annually. Funders prefer to invest in nonprofits rather than give directly to the school district, the report found.

A presentation on the city's finances delivered during a Tuesday morning work session revealed little promise for a recovery. The city's gross receipts tax revenue is $898,000, or 3.6 percent, below budget for the current fiscal, according to the financial report.

Gross receipts taxes — similar to a sales tax but charged on businesses or other service providers — provide the city with 67.5 percent of its general fund revenue.

And while that may be seen by some as a positive, the problems that caused the New Mexico pepper industry's decline are still there, experts said. Among them are higher labor costs than in competitor countries, a crop that's vulnerable to plant-killing diseases and an irrigation water shortage locally.