As near as anyone can tell, the latest movie-industry surge has been a great deal for New Mexico. But "near" isn't near enough for legislative financial sleuths seeking to cope with huge deficits.

For most of Hollywood's history, our state has provided great filming locations, but during the last couple of decades it seems we've really "arrived" as a movie-making venue as well as a home for many cinematic eminences.

Owing greatly to the guidance of Gov. Bill Richardson, we've graduated from scenic "shoots" under fair skies to a fairly steady pace of studio production, from the Greer Garson studio at the College of Santa Fe to the huge production lot at Albuquerque's Mesa del Sol.

Meanwhile state subsidies of various kinds continue making our state attractive to producers. It's become a point of pride that the Academy Award for 2008's best movie went to No Country for Old Men, shot over in Las Vegas, and that Crazy Heart, filmed in New Mexico, already has won Golden Globes awards this year and might win some Oscars.

There's no calculating the money New Mexico might make from visitors attracted here by movie settings, but tourism surely benefits from them.

It should be easier to figure out the return on tax money invested, by way of revenue exemptions and rebates, to bring production companies here — and the state's Film Office isn't bashful about claiming $120 million in money that's come back to the state for the $80 million it has put into the business.

But state Rep. Dennis Kintigh, R-Roswell, says too many figures are being hidden from him and New Mexico taxpayers. As an ex-FBI agent, he knows when folks are holding back information, and he's been trying to repeal the tax incentives the Legislature offers Hollywood. The Legislature's Democratic majority once again has defeated his attempts, but his questions deserve better answers than they've gotten so far.

At the same time, the state and Board of Santa Fe County Commissioners have leapt, starry-eyed, onto the casting couch — granting $10 million and lending several million more to Santa Fe Studios, to be built south of town.

Kintigh and other conservatives of both parties have raised their eyebrows over this politically plugged-in project — wondering, properly enough: If show biz is such a good deal, why isn't the Santa Fe project a purely private one, like the one down in Albuquerque?

A partial response is that the state did subsidize the Albuquerque project — to the extent that it built a $6 million road to the site.

What's needed, though, is a clear view of our public investment in movies: How much it's costing, how much return we can reasonably expect — and what the long-term prospects are.

We've made a good start in training technicians and other support staff crucial to modern movie-making; that's another part of our appeal to producers from the east and west coasts.

But are these efforts enough to turn filmmaking into a sustainable industry?

More than half the states in the country have invested to some extent in moviemaker magnets — and Hollywood has long looked for greener pastures: After a wave of movies shot at Old Tucson in the 1950s and '60s, New Mexico looked good in the '70s. Then Hollywood came and went — and came again; this time to stay, or will Michigan, Missouri or somewhere else become the location of choice?

Our clear skies will be on New Mexico's side, but what if competing states come up with offers the movie moguls can't refuse? They can be fickle: Cut us an even better deal, we can hear some of 'em saying — or we're off to the Upper Peninsula ...

Movies are, and have been, great economic-development factors — but so are the many businesses who've been in New Mexico through thick and thin, without having been handed huge amount of taxpayer largesse.

If Rep. Kintigh can't get adequate balance-sheet answers during this short budget session, the Legislative Finance Committee owes them to him and his fellow New Mexicans by the time the next Legislature convenes.