© 2024 KRWG
News that Matters.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Top Judge: New Mexico Courts Overburdened

New Mexico courts have requested a nine percent increase in funding over last year to address hundreds of thousands of cases that remain open.  Supreme Court Chief Justice Barbara Vigil asked lawmakers to fund the courts with nearly $172 million for the 2016 fiscal year, which begins July 1.

The courts were allocated $157 million last year.

Vigil says trial court judges presided over nearly 400,000 new and reopened cases in fiscal year 2014 alone, with an average of 2,300 cases per judge.

The additional money would fund new judges, court-appointed attorneys, drug courts and court interpreters, among others.

Vigil says magistrate courts are also severely underfunded and need more than $3 million to keep up with their caseloads.

Vigil delivered remarks to the state Legislature on Thursday.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.