Opinion No. 53-5808
September 1, 1953
TO: Mr. James C. Compton Assistant District Attorney Portales, New Mexico
{*216} This will acknowledge receipt of your letter in which you inquire as to whether county clerks may charge {*217} a $ 1.00 recording fee for each oil and gas lease released under a blanket release.
Section 1, Chapter 51, Laws 1953 authorizes county clerks to charge a recording fee of $ 1.25 for a standard form release of oil and gas lease and a fee of $ 1.75 for nonstandard form releases. Although the statute makes no distinction as to whether the release covers one of many leases, it does state "oil and gas lease" and not "leases."
It is my opinion, therefore, that it was not the intent of the Legislature to require a county clerk to record several releases of oil and gas leases for a single fee, merely because the several were placed on one form, and that the clerk may charge a fee for each lease released.