New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4, County Officer Salaries Amendment (2024)

New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4
Election date November 5, 2024
Topic Salaries of government officials
Status a Approved
Type Constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4, the County Officer Salaries Amendment, was on the ballot in New Mexico as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment on November 5, 2024. The ballot measure was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending the state constitution to authorize the board of county commissioners to set salaries for county officers and clarify that fees collected by the county are to be deposited into the county treasury.

A "no" vote opposed amending the state constitution to authorize the board of county commissioners to set salaries for county officers, thereby maintaining that the state legislature sets the salaries of county officers.

Election results

New Mexico Constitutional Amendment 4
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		520,128	65.67%
No		271,961	34.33%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Overview

What did Constitutional Amendment 4 do?

See also: Text of measure

Constitutional Amendment 4 edited Article X, Section 1 of the New Mexico Constitution. The measure removed the language requiring the legislature to classify the counties in the first legislative session. It also provided for the transfer the power of setting county officers' salaries from the legislature to a county's board of commissioners. The amendment also clarified that the fees collected by a county official must be deposited into the county treasury.

How were county officer salaries determined?

See also: State law governing county officer salaries

As of 2024, counties were classified into two categories for purposes of determining county officer salaries—Class A and Class B. Class A county officer salary maximums range from $38,114 for probate judges to $90,338 for county sheriffs. Class B county officer salary maximums range from $15,098 for probate judges to $78,952 for county sheriffs. Click here to see the full list of salary maximums by county office and county class.

Text of measure

Ballot question

The ballot question for Constitutional Amendment 4 was as follows:

“

Proposing an amendment to Article 10, Section 1 of the Constitution of New Mexico to provide that the salaries of county officers shall be established by the board of county commissioners, remove references to the first legislative session, and clarify that any fees collected by a county official shall be paid into the treasury of the county.

”

Constitutional changes

See also: Article X, New Mexico Constitution

The ballot measure amended Section 1 of Article X of the New Mexico Constitution. The following underlined text was added and struck-through text was deleted:

Section 1

The legislature shall at its first session classify the counties and fix salaries for all county officers, which shall also apply to those elected at the first election under this constitution. And of the state. No county officer shall receive to his own use any fees or emoluments other than the an annual salary, provided by law and as established by the board of county commissioners. All fees earned by any officer shall be by him collected and by a county official shall be paid into the treasure of the county.

Readability score

See also: Ballot measure readability scores, 2024

Using the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL) and Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) formulas, Ballotpedia scored the readability of the ballot title for this measure. Readability scores are designed to indicate the reading difficulty of text. The Flesch-Kincaid formulas account for the number of words, syllables, and sentences in a text; they do not account for the difficulty of the ideas in the text. The state legislature wrote the ballot language for this measure.

The FKGL for the ballot title is grade level 27, and the FRE is -3. The word count for the ballot title is 55.

Support

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in support of the ballot measure.

Opposition

Ballotpedia did not locate a campaign in opposition to the ballot measure.

Campaign finance

The campaign finance information on this page reflects the most recent scheduled reports that Ballotpedia has processed, which covered through April 1, 2024. The deadline for the next scheduled reports was September 9, 2024.

See also: Campaign finance requirements for New Mexico ballot measures

	Cash Contributions	In-Kind Contributions	Total Contributions	Cash Expenditures	Total Expenditures
Support	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Oppose	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00
Total	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00	$0.00

Background

New Mexico counties

There are 33 counties in New Mexico. The counties are functioning governmental units, each governed by a board of commissioners.

If voters approve this constitutional amendment in New Mexico, each county would independently set the salaries for newly elected officials like county commissioners, treasurer, assessor, sheriff, county clerk, and probate judge. The financial impact on each county's budget is likely to vary, considering factors such as appointees' salaries being a percentage of elected positions' official salaries. Currently, there are 302 elected positions, one for each office, except for commissioners, which total 137. The official salary for these positions is capped by law, and any changes require legislative approval.

State law governing county officer salaries

New Mexico statutes 4-44-4 and 4-44-4.1 (2021) discuss the salary limits for county officers for Class A counties and Class B counties respectively. Class A counties have over $75 million in tax valuation and a population of 100,000 or more. Class B is divided into two subclassifications—intermediate and high. An intermediate Class B has a valuation over $75 million for with populations of 100,000 or less. A Class B county with a high valuation has a valuation of over $300 million. The table below lists the maximum salary by office and by county class as of 2024.

According to New Mexico Statute Section 4-44-12.3 (2017): The lawmakers aim to ensure fair salary increases for elected county officials. Following the rules outlined in Sections 4-44-3 through 4-44-6 NMSA 1978, most of the county commissioners' board can approve salary hikes for elected county officials. However, any approved salary increase won't come into effect until the beginning of the term of a newly elected county official who takes office after the approval date.

Referred amendments on the ballot

See also: List of New Mexico ballot measures

The following statistics are based on ballot measures between 1995 and 2022 in New Mexico:

• Ballots featured 60 constitutional amendments.
• An average of four measures appeared on even-year statewide ballots.
• Voters approved 87% (52 of 60) and rejected 13% (8 of 60) of the constitutional amendments.

Legislatively-referred constitutional amendments, 1995-2022
Total number	Approved	Percent approved	Defeated	Percent defeated	Even-year average	Even-year median	Even-year minimum	Even-year maximum
60	52	87%	8	13%	4	5	1	9

Path to the ballot

See also: Amending the New Mexico Constitution

A simple majority vote is required during one legislative session for the New Mexico State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot. That amounts to a minimum of 36 votes in the New Mexico House of Representatives and 22 votes in the New Mexico State Senate, assuming no vacancies. Amendments do not require the governor's signature to be referred to the ballot.

This amendment was introduced as Senate Joint Resolution 16 on January 26, 2024. On February 7, 2024, the state Senate passed SJR 16 in a vote of 37-0 with five absent. On February 14, 2024, the state House passed it by a vote of 64-0 with six absent.

Vote in the New Mexico State Senate February 7, 2024
Requirement: Simple majority of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 22  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	37	0	5
Total percent	88.10%	0.00%	11.90%
Democrat	26	0	1
Republican	11	0	4

Vote in the New Mexico House of Representatives February 14, 2024
Requirement: Simple majority of all members in each chamber
Number of yes votes required: 36  a
	Yes	No	Not voting
Total	64	0	6
Total percent	91.43%	0.00%	8.57%
Democrat	39	0	6
Republican	25	0	0

How to cast a vote

See also: Voting in New Mexico

See below to learn more about current voter registration rules, identification requirements, and poll times in New Mexico.

How to vote in New Mexico

Poll times

In New Mexico, all polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time on Election Day. An individual who is in line at the time polls close must be allowed to vote.

Registration

Check your voter registration status here.

To register to vote in New Mexico, each applicant must be a citizen of the United States, a resident of New Mexico, and at least 18 years old by the time of the next election. People convicted of a felony are eligible to vote after their prison time is completed, even if they are still on probation, parole, or another form of supervised release. Individuals who have been declared mentally incapacitated may not register to vote.

Potential New Mexico voters who were not registered automatically may use the New Mexico voter registration form, the national voter registration form, or the state's online voter registration portal to register. Completed registration materials may be mailed or delivered by hand to election officials. To register online, an applicant must have a state-issued ID. First-time applicants registering by mail must attach a valid form of identification to their registration materials, which includes a current and valid photo identification, or, a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student identification card or other government document, including tribal IDs that show the voter's name and current address.

Automatic registration

See also: Automatic voter registration

New Mexico has automatic voter registration. Eligible voters are automatically registered to vote when they interact with a department of motor vehicles unless they opt out.

Online registration

See also: Online voter registration

New Mexico has implemented an online voter registration system. Residents can register to vote by visiting this website.

Same-day registration

See also: Same-day voter registration

New Mexico allows same-day voter registration.

Residency requirements

In New Mexico, individuals can register to vote as soon as they become residents of the state.

Verification of citizenship

See also: Laws permitting noncitizens to vote in the United States

New Mexico does not require proof of citizenship for voter registration. An individual must attest that they are a U.S. citizen when registering to vote.

All 49 states with voter registration systems require applicants to declare that they are U.S. citizens in order to register to vote in state and federal elections, under penalty of perjury or other punishment. Seven states — Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, and Wyoming — have laws requiring verification of citizenship at the time of voter registration, whether in effect or not. In three states — California, Maryland, and Vermont — at least one local jurisdiction allows noncitizens to vote in some local elections. Noncitizens registering to vote in those elections must complete a voter registration application provided by the local jurisdiction and are not eligible to register as state or federal voters.

Verifying your registration

The New Mexico Secretary of State’s Office allows residents to check their voter registration status online by visiting this website.

Voter ID requirements

New Mexico does not require voters to present identification while voting, in most cases. However, if an individual registered to vote for the first time by mail and did not provide verification of his or her identity then, the voter will have to show identification.

Those voters can present the following forms of identification:

• Current and valid photo identification
• Current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, student identification card, or other government document, including identification issued by an Indian nation, tribe, or pueblo that shows the voter’s name and current address

Some municipalities require identification when voting in local elections. Click here for more information.

See also

2024 measures

• 2024 ballot measures
• Salaries of government officials on the ballot

New Mexico

• New Mexico ballot measures
• New Mexico ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls

External links

• Full text