The county treasurer of the county in which is located the office of any irrigation district, shall be and is hereby constituted ex-officio district treasurer of said district, and said county treasurer shall be liable upon his official bond, and to indictment and criminal prosecution for malfeasance, misfeasance or failure to perform any duty herein prescribed, as county treasurer or district treasurer, as is provided by law in other cases, as county treasurer. Said treasurer shall receive and receipt for all moneys belonging to said district. It shall be the duty of the county treasurer in each county in which any irrigation district is located, in whole or in part, to collect and receipt for all taxes levied as herein provided, in the same manner and at the same time as is required in the receipt for and collection of taxes upon real estate for county purposes.

The county treasurer of each county comprising a portion only of any irrigation district, excepting the county treasurer of the county in which the office of said district is located, on the first Monday of every month, shall remit to the district treasurer aforesaid, all moneys, bonds and coupons theretofore collected or received by him on account of said district. Every county treasurer shall keep a bond fund account and a general fund account. The bond fund shall consist of all moneys received on account of interest and principal of the bonds issued by said district, said accounts for interest and principal each to be kept separate. The general fund shall consist of all other moneys received. The district treasurer aforesaid shall pay out of said bond fund, when due, the interest and principal of the bonds of said district, at the time and at the place specified in said bonds, and shall pay out of said general fund only upon warrants signed by the president and countersigned by the secretary of said district, as herein provided. The district treasurer, on the fifteenth day of each month shall report to the board of directors of said district the amount of money in his hands to the credit of the respective funds above provided. All such district taxes collected and paid to the county treasurer, as aforesaid, shall be received by said treasurers in their official capacity, and they shall be responsible for the safekeeping, disbursement and payment thereof, the sale [same] as for other moneys collected by them as such treasurers; provided, said county treasurer shall not receive any commission for the collection of said district taxes or any extra compensation for acting as such district treasurer, other than the regular salary as such county treasurer, but the district may pay to said treasurer, for clerical assistance, a sum not to exceed twenty dollars [($20.00)] per month for each five thousand acres or major fraction thereof, in such district.

History: Laws 1919, ch. 41, § 21; 1927, ch. 148, § 4; C.S. 1929, § 73-221; Laws 1934 (S.S.), ch. 8, § 11; 1941 Comp., § 77-2125; 1953 Comp., § 75-22-25.

Cross references. — For purchase of delinquent tax property by district, see 73-13-19 to 73-13-24 NMSA 1978.

Separate bond not required. — No separate official bond is required of the treasurer for his duties as treasurer of the irrigation district. 1920 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 20-2737.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 45 Am. Jur. 2d Irrigation § 70.

94 C.J.S. Waters § 243.