This year, New Mexicans are faced with a constitutional amendment that would allow the state’s county commissioners to independently set the salaries for elected county officials, including themselves.
Currently, the state legislature sets a salary limit for county officers, and the top limit for county commissioners is about $39,000 per year, but this amendment would take that power from the state and allow counties to adjust salaries as they see fit.
District 3 Doña Ana County Commissioner Shannon Reynolds said that the amendment will allow counties to attract a larger pool of qualified candidates to run for office.
“The only people who can run for office are those who [have] a second career, those that are independently wealthy, or those that are retired. So it limits the pool of candidates that we can actually have run for office because they can’t support their family on the salary that we get paid,” Reynolds said.
Meanwhile, across the Texas border in El Paso County, commissioners get paid about $133,000 a year, over triple what commissioner pay is capped at in New Mexico.
Reynolds said that these caps not only restrict commissioners, but apply to other elected offices within the county.
“The amount of money that the sheriff’s making is probably around the same as what some of our lieutenants are making, and captains, and certainly not the major,” he said. “So it limits the pool of candidates available to hire who are qualified to do the sheriff’s job and provide the community with the protection it needs.”
But should the amendment pass, it will create inconsistencies across counties according to Molly Swank, Executive Director of Common Cause New Mexico, a non-partisan watchdog group. Swank said while her organization is taking a neutral stance on the amendment, it’s important that voters understand the implications of the constitutional change.
“What we’re looking at Common Cause is the issue of people setting their own salary, that could be problematic as we move forward,” she said. “Yes, this would put more power into the hands of the county, so it would increase localized decision making. However, it could lead to personal gain, [and] conflict of interest. So it really depends on if the voters support the checks and balances within the constitution as it lies, or if they do believe in localized decision making.”
As New Mexicans head to the polls, it’s now in the hands of voters to decide whether county government salaries are overseen by the state government, or if the power to set salaries of county officials should sit exclusively with county commissioners.
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