ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Sandia National Laboratories contributed just over $973 million to the New Mexico economy during fiscal year 1997, ending Sept. 30, 1997 -- a 16-percent increase over the amount it contributed to the state's well being the year before.

Sandia, a multiprogram Department of Energy research and development laboratory operated and managed by a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, increased its contribution to the state economy despite a smaller workforce.

The big-ticket items in the Sandia/New Mexico budget were payroll -- down 0.6 percent from the year before at $428.2 million -- and goods and services bought from New Mexico suppliers -- up 22 percent at $327.3 million.

Pension payments to retired Sandians during FY97 totaled $58.9 million, up 11 percent from the previous year, and payments to medical/dental providers came to $46.5 million, up one percent.

Gross receipts tax payments declined 18 percent from FY96 to FY97, to $38.4 million.

Of goods and services purchases from New Mexico suppliers, $207.9 million of the total went to small businesses, $108 million to large businesses, and $11.4 million to "other commercial" organizations. Included in the total were $45.8 million to businesses owned by women and $104.1 million to businesses classified as "disadvantaged." State educational institutions got $7.4 million of those expenditures.

According to an annual report produced jointly by the Department of Energy and New Mexico State University, Sandia's budget amounted to 5.1 percent of New Mexico's total FY96 economic activity.

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