The City of Socorro takes a closer look at the municipal court

A new committee will assess if the City of Socorro’s municipal court will continue with city funding or dissolve.

In 2023, the New Mexico Legislature approved a bill eliminating post-adjudication and bench warrant fees; since then municipalities such as Truth or Consequences have dissolved their municipal court due to the financial strain.

“Our question as a council is: Is the value that the folks in Socorro are receiving commensurate with the cost?” Councilor Anton Salome said at Tuesday’s regular meeting.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker said the first step in the process is to form a committee composed of the mayor, a councilor, the municipal judge, the police chief and three members of the public appointed by the mayor.

The committee will hold at least one public hearing, followed by a recommendation to the city council.

“All I’m saying is small cities at this point are having trouble supporting a municipal judge when you have a magistrate and a district judge,” Bhasker said. “In the time that I’ve been mayor and with different municipal judges, I just haven’t seen the things that I wanted to see.”

Problems with dogs and landowners neglecting their properties have not improved, he said.

The City’s Municipal Judge Joseph Gutierrez said the court’s role is to process cases brought by code enforcement or animal control officers, and that after a judgment, it is up to those officers to follow up on compliance, not the judge.

Councilor Michael Olguin repeatedly asked why a resolution was necessary when council members could simply visit the court, talk to the judge and gather information without a formal process.

He said committees are often formed without resolutions and questioned why this situation required a different approach.

Last month, Municipal Judge Joseph Gutierrez’s salary was raised to $3,516.00 per month. Olguin said he questioned if the push for eliminating the court was a result of the raise.

“I just don’t understand why we have to do a resolution when you can talk to them first and do it informally,” Olguin said, “because to me, it sounds like we’re doing this resolution with the intent of getting it done before the end of the year.”

Judge Gutierrez said in an informal meeting he would be able to give the city more information.

Salome said he was concerned that if they didn’t follow a formal process, there would be no guarantee that they would come back to the issue with a decision.

The resolution was passed with Councilors Mary Ann Chavez-Lopez, Deborah Dean, Damien Ocampo, Peter Romero, Anton Salome and Nick Flemming voting in favor and Olguin voting against.

Bhasker appointed Olguin to fill the councilor position on the committee.

In other business

The city approved a $1.1 million bid from Richardson & Richardson for the Socorro Municipal Airport hangar building. City Clerk Polo Pineda said the bid came in $50,000 lower than the other bids. He recommended approving it given the nature of the protests on the other bids received. Finance Director Ruby Lopez said a grant fully covers the funding.

Fire Captain Daniel Pacheco said they were able to hire five new recruits, with three being county-funded. The city will bill the county monthly for these positions, an agreement negotiated over five months.

During public comment, Peter Otero, a resident of Evergreen Drive, said he was concerned about the wastewater project on his street and asked if the road would be paved upon completion. Bhasker confirmed the road would not be paved; however, they would investigate funding options to repave it.

The next meeting was scheduled for 6 p.m. on September 16 at City Hall.