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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Martinez, R

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/26/07

HB

SHORT TITLE

Municipal Court Support Division

SB 89

ANALYST C.Sanchez

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$314.2

Recurring

General Fund

$82.9 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 89 appropriates $397,100 from the general fund to the administrative office of the

courts (AOC) for expenditure in FY 2008 to form a municipal court support division within the

AOC. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance at the end of FY 08 shall revert to the general

fund.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The proposed budget of the municipal court support division is:

Salary for 3 Auditors

241,845

Salary for Administrative Assistant 60,286

Contractual Services

30,000

Municipal Administrative Manuals 65,000

Total Budget:

397,131

Senate Bill 89 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The appropriation will be used to hire three auditors and an administrative assistant to provide

support for all municipal judges throughout the state. Funding is also requested for contractual

money for attorney services and to create an administrative procedure manual for municipal

courts. The Supreme Court has superintending control over all courts within the State of New

Mexico and is seeking to create this division within the AOC to assist the court in assuring that

all municipal judges are aware of and are following proper rules and procedures, as well as

sound fiscal and human resources practices.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The courts are participating in performance-based budgeting. It is unknown if enactment of this

bill would impact performance measures as they relate to judicial budgeting.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The enactment of this bill will enable the AOC to provide additional assistance to municipal

courts statewide in administrative operations within these courts.

WHAT WILL BE THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT ENACTING THIS BILL

Status Quo

CS/mt