Opinion No. 47-5005
April 8, 1947
TO: G. T. Watts, District Attorney Fifth Judicial District Roswell, New Mexico
{*27} We wish to acknowledge receipt of your inquiry of the 3rd instant in which you request our interpretation of Chapter 119, Laws of 1945. (Your inquiry refers to Chapter 119, Laws of 1925, but from the subject matter involved it is quite evident you were referring to the Laws of 1945 and not to the Laws of 1925).
Chapter 119, Laws of 1945, provides in part as follows:
"Provided further that in any county where the assessed valuation of property for purposes of taxation is in excess of twenty million dollars ($ 20,000,000.00) the officers of said county, in addition to the amounts provided herein for deputies, shall receive not to exceed the following:
Treasurer and ex-officio collector, for additional deputies, twenty seven hundred dollars ($ 2,700.00); Assessor, for additional deputies, twenty seven hundred dollars ($ 2,700.00); Sheriff, for additional deputies, two thousand dollars ($ 2,000.00); County Clerk, for additional deputies, twelve hundred dollars ($ 1,200.00) * * *."
It is therefore our opinion that in any county where the assessed valuation of property for purposes of taxation is in excess of twenty million dollars, county office holders, as heretofore set forth, may employ additional deputies and pay them salaries within the limits as herein set forth, provided of course the budget is so set up or adjusted to allow same.
Trusting the aforementioned satisfies your inquiry, I am
By ROBT. V. WOLLARD,
Asst. Atty. General