Marcus Montoya, Eighth Judicial District attorney and president of the New Mexico District Attorneys’ Association, presented his office’s budget request to the Legislative Finance Committee on Nov. 19, 2025. (Joshua Bowling/Source New Mexico)
Each of New Mexico’s district attorneys on Wednesday asked state lawmakers during ongoing Legislative Finance Committee hearings to increase their funding in the upcoming legislative session. Most every prosecutor’s office asked for more money to hire attorneys and support staff, but DAs in New Mexico’s most rural areas had a unique set of requests.
In the Eighth Judicial District, which includes Taos, Colfax and Union counties, prosecuting attorneys rely on a high-mileage fleet of cars to cover courthouse visits that require driving as much as 140 to 266 miles round-trip. In the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Roswell, attorneys experience disruptions to internet speeds and reliability during electronic discovery processes. And across the state, IT services and computers are “at end-of-life” and need a major overhaul, the president of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the District Attorneys said.
Marcus Montoya, district attorney for the Eighth Judicial District and president of the New Mexico District Attorneys’ Association, said his office currently has 10 vehicles, two of which have clocked more than 100,000 miles. The odometer on his office’s 2005 Toyota Matrix recently rolled over to 142,282 miles, he said, noting that Kelley Blue Book assigns that vehicle an average lifespan of 147,428 miles.
His staff attorneys need the vehicles to attend court hearings, serve subpoenas and attend meetings throughout the vast district, Montoya said. Extreme weather isn’t uncommon in his part of the state, where roads and highways stretch through craggy, mountainous terrain.
“We are the Dutch boy plugging the dam with our finger,” Montoya said.
He asked state lawmakers to increase his office’s base budget by about 4.4%, which would include $75,000 to upgrade its vehicle fleet. In all, his office requested about $6 million. Montoya’s office isn’t alone — the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which includes Alamogordo, also requested about $71,000 to replace vehicles with 150,000 miles.
Dianna Luce, DA for the Fifth Judicial District, told state lawmakers that her office has issues with internet speeds and said that convincing University of New Mexico law graduates to move to Chaves County is a tough proposition. As of Wednesday, she said her office has seven unfilled staff attorney positions.
“It is extremely difficult to hire attorneys,” she said. “We primarily hire from outside the state.”
by Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
November 20, 2025
by Joshua Bowling, Source New Mexico
November 20, 2025
Each of New Mexico’s district attorneys on Wednesday asked state lawmakers during ongoing Legislative Finance Committee hearings to increase their funding in the upcoming legislative session. Most every prosecutor’s office asked for more money to hire attorneys and support staff, but DAs in New Mexico’s most rural areas had a unique set of requests.
In the Eighth Judicial District, which includes Taos, Colfax and Union counties, prosecuting attorneys rely on a high-mileage fleet of cars to cover courthouse visits that require driving as much as 140 to 266 miles round-trip. In the Fifth Judicial District, which includes Roswell, attorneys experience disruptions to internet speeds and reliability during electronic discovery processes. And across the state, IT services and computers are “at end-of-life” and need a major overhaul, the president of the New Mexico Administrative Office of the District Attorneys said.
Marcus Montoya, district attorney for the Eighth Judicial District and president of the New Mexico District Attorneys’ Association, said his office currently has 10 vehicles, two of which have clocked more than 100,000 miles. The odometer on his office’s 2005 Toyota Matrix recently rolled over to 142,282 miles, he said, noting that Kelley Blue Book assigns that vehicle an average lifespan of 147,428 miles.
His staff attorneys need the vehicles to attend court hearings, serve subpoenas and attend meetings throughout the vast district, Montoya said. Extreme weather isn’t uncommon in his part of the state, where roads and highways stretch through craggy, mountainous terrain.
“We are the Dutch boy plugging the dam with our finger,” Montoya said.
He asked state lawmakers to increase his office’s base budget by about 4.4%, which would include $75,000 to upgrade its vehicle fleet. In all, his office requested about $6 million. Montoya’s office isn’t alone — the 12th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, which includes Alamogordo, also requested about $71,000 to replace vehicles with 150,000 miles.
Dianna Luce, DA for the Fifth Judicial District, told state lawmakers that her office has issues with internet speeds and said that convincing University of New Mexico law graduates to move to Chaves County is a tough proposition. As of Wednesday, she said her office has seven unfilled staff attorney positions.
“It is extremely difficult to hire attorneys,” she said. “We primarily hire from outside the state.”
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Source New Mexico maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Julia Goldberg for questions: info@sourcenm.com.
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Joshua Bowling is a senior reporter for Source New Mexico. He’s reported in New Mexico, where he broke stories of lavish spending at Western New Mexico University and more, since 2022.
Source New Mexico is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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