New Mexico Statutes Chapter 4. Counties § 4-42-7. Fees; purchase of plats of United States surveys; admissibility of certified copies of surveys as evidence; filing copy of surveys

The expense of the chain carriers and corner man shall be paid in advance, if required by a licensed professional surveyor appointed by the board of county commissioners or the surveyor's deputy, by the party on whose application the survey may be made, and the money so advanced shall be accounted for by the surveyor, and the amount expended to be taxed on the bill of costs. However, each surveyor may retain the return of any survey made by the surveyor until the surveyor is paid the fee established by law and may collect fees by action. The board of county commissioners of each county in this state, at its discretion, may procure copies, duly certified by the surveyor general to be correct, of the field notes and plats of the original surveys by the United States of the lands of its county, and the board shall bind the plats and field notes each substantially in book form and keep them in the county clerk's office for the benefit of the public. The certificate of the licensed professional surveyor appointed by the board of county commissioners or any of the surveyor's deputies as to the correctness or accuracy of any survey, plat or field notes made by the surveyor or any certified copy of them shall be admitted as legal evidence in any court of the state, but only when the surveyor is dead or when it is impossible to obtain the surveyor's evidence either by the surveyor's personal attendance or by means of a deposition taken according to law. This evidence may be explained or rebutted by other evidence. The licensed professional surveyors appointed by the boards of county commissioners of the different counties of this state may administer all oaths or affirmations necessary to be administered to road viewers and for all other purposes necessary to the discharge of their official duties. A copy of all surveys shall be filed with the county clerk by the surveyor.