Publisher's journal: Public records should be available to us all

David Stevens, The Staff of The News | Last updated Sep 23, 2023 11:41am

It seems some of New Mexico’s public entities want changes to the state’s Inspection of Public Records Act.

Mostly they want to charge taxpayers for the time public employees spend researching and compiling public information when it’s requested.

Melanie Majors, director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government, suggests you think of their plan like this:

“When the fire department comes and puts out a fire at your house, they don’t say, ‘Mrs. Jones, here’s your bill.’ Fire protection is paid for in our taxes. It’s the same with public records.”

Majors is right of course.

We would be outraged if a public school district decided to start charging taxpayers for teaching students, or if the police department started billing those who make 911 calls.

Cities, counties, school districts, etc. are already being paid to perform services. Those services include compiling records of what they do so their bosses – the taxpayers – can be assured they’re worth what we’re paying them.

“Isn’t that the whole point (of having public records), to provide the public information about what its government is doing?” Major asks.

“Who actually paid for that initial record? The public. Who pays the salary of the people who maintain the records? The public,” she said.

Public records used to be an issue that only media cared about. The only way we can accurately report on what public entities are doing with our tax dollars is to see the documents.

In these days of “citizen journalism,” more people want to see public records for themselves. That’s a good thing – more people holding government accountable for its actions.

Officials in Eddy County are among the most vocal in efforts to charge for public records. They claim “60 to 70 active (IPRA) requests per day.” (Curry County reports it receives fewer than 10 requests per month, but OK.)

“Folks are using IPRA to dig around and it serves no legitimate purpose,” Eddy County Sheriff Mark Cage said, according to a report in the Artesia Daily Press. “And sometimes they want footage from five different cameras. They want every bit of footage from five deputies, and we’re required to give it to them. We should be able to bill them for our time and that would slow the volume down.”

There’s no doubt every community has a troublemaker or three whose primary mission is to try and embarrass government. The easiest way to do that is to let government tell on itself using its own records.

One can see why government is not crazy about how this works.

But it’s important to remember – please pay attention all you mayors, sheriffs, school superintendents, etc. – the government is supposed to work for the people. The people are the bosses.

Now that we’re clear on that point, here’s an idea that should make everybody happy:

Government agencies could post all of their public records on their websites. They have to keep records anyway. Post them in a public place.

Problem solved.

David Stevens is publisher of Clovis Media Inc. Email him at:

[email protected]