2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 34 - Court Structure and Administration
Article 6 - District Courts
Section 34-6-23 - Personnel; travel expenses.

District judges and district court employees shall be allowed per diem and shall be reimbursed for their necessary travel expenses incurred while absent from their principal offices upon official business, at the same rates and under the same conditions as prescribe by law or regulation of the state board of finance for other employees of the state. These expenses shall be paid from the funds of the district court of the judicial district for which the business is transacted.

History: 1953 Comp., § 16-3-10, enacted by Laws 1968, ch. 69, § 24.

Cross references. — For principal office of judge being established at county seat by rule, see 34-6-17 NMSA 1978.

For Per Diem and Mileage Act, see 10-8-1 NMSA 1978.

Repeals and reenactments. — Laws 1968, ch. 69, § 69, repealed former 16-3-10, 1953 Comp., relating to process and expenditures in the fifth judicial district.

Judge's and reporter's expenses must be paid from court funds. — Payment of the expenses incurred by the district judge and court reporter from the funds of the district court is mandatory. Read v. Western Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 1977-NMCA-039, 90 N.M. 369, 563 P.2d 1162.

Per diem and mileage may not be taxed as costs. — Costs are a creature of statute and may not be imposed in the absence of clear legislative authorization, and thus since no statute or rule of court imposes upon litigants in a civil case the burden of paying per diem and travel expenses incurred by a district judge and court reporter, such expenses could not be properly taxed as costs when plaintiff requested a continuance pending an appeal of one defendant's summary judgment. Read v. Western Farm Bureau Mut. Ins. Co., 1977-NMCA-039, 90 N.M. 369, 563 P.2d 1162.

Employees not entitled to additional compensation beyond expenses. — A district court reporter and a juvenile probation officer, full-time employees of the district court, are not entitled to additional compensation for services undertaken in magistrate court during regular working hours, aside from per diem and travel expenses authorized in this section. 1969 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 69-122.

Demanding illegal fees. — An individual illegally receiving compensation both as a full-time district court reporter and as a deputy court clerk over the same period of time may be guilty of a petty misdemeanor under 30-23-1 NMSA 1978, and liable for restitution under 30-23-7 NMSA 1978. 1964 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 64-152.

Absence from principal office necessary for per diem or mileage. — This section establishes, as a condition precedent to the payment of either per diem or mileage to the district judge, that the district judge must be absent from the principal office. The principal office of the district judge is the county seat of one of the counties in that justice's judicial district. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-12.

For per diem, absence from duty post also necessary. — Per diem may be collected by an employee only when away from home and away from designated post of duty on official business. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-27.

Sole judge must select his duty station. — Where the sole district judge in a multi-county judicial district resides in the county seat of one of the counties of the district and approximately 60 to 80% of the judge's time as a district judge must be spent at the county seat of the other county, with respect to per diem the judge must designate one city as duty station. If judge must choose a courthouse where a substantial portion of the duties are performed as the duty station, but a majority of that duty is not required at a courthouse before the judge may choose it to be the duty station. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-27.

Necessary travel away from home reimbursable. — If the judge selects a county seat other than county of residence as principal office, when the judge is traveling to and from the city which is away from home, if the travel is necessary to the discharge of official duties, then the judge should be paid the mileage rate provided in the Per Diem and Mileage Act. 1973 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 73-27.

Judge entitled to mileage traveling between principal office and office at residence. — A district judge is entitled to mileage when traveling from the county seat to an additional office in the city of residence in order to conduct official business in the additional office and when the judge is present at the additional office on official business and then travels from the additional office to the county seat. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-12.

Per diem. — A judge cannot be eligible for per diem for travel between the city of residence and the county seat which is the principal office, because such trips will not take the judge away from home and principal office at the same time. 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 75-12.