Opinion No. 21-3133
October 5, 1921
TO: Mr. J. B. Robertson, Secretary, Sheep Sanitary Board, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Status of Records of Sheep Sanitary Board.
OPINION
{*89} Replying to your oral request for a summary of the various opinions rendered by this office, both written and otherwise, regarding the use of the records of your office by private individuals and {*90} county and state officials, I wish to state:
The records of the Sheep Sanitary Board are not designated as public records by statute. Nor is there anything which would indicate that they should be so considered. Therefore, they are not open to the inspection of private individuals.
In my opinion, however, such records should be open to such use as may be properly made of them by county and state officials for legitimate uses and purposes.
I have in mind particularly the use of the records by taxing officials in order to check up upon the number of sheep and goats which taxpayers own, in order to complete the tax records. For this purpose your records should always be available at convenient and proper times.
Everything should be done by public officials in New Mexico to aid in placing upon the tax rolls all property subject to taxation and I believe it would be considered proper and legal for county assessors and the State Tax Commission or any of its agents to have ready access to such records for the purposes above mentioned.
Trusting that the foregoing satisfactorily answers your inquiry, I am,