By Mary Alice Murphy
At an emergency meeting Thursday, Aug. 3, 2017, Hurley town councilors signed a letter of obligation for a USDA loan and Colonias grant funding to ensure the town will continue to provide water to its residents.
In a letter sent to Mayor Fernando Martinez, it states: "At this time, New Mexico Rural Development has expended all our loan funds, and all but $1,551,700 of our Colonia grant funds. Based on your application, operating budget and historical income/expense data, we propose a $1,572,000 loan with a $1,167,500 NM Colonia grant in conjunction with the $80,000 Applicant Contribution and $3,893,710 in combined State funding, to complete the funding package for your project. … Please also keep in mind that the above funding package depends on us receiving the additional loan funds from the national office reserve – which we do not anticipate a problem getting." The state expects to know for sure on the funding by the week of Aug. 14.
According to Priscilla Lucero, Southwest New Mexico Council of Governments executive director, this is the last piece of funding needed to complete the entire phase to provide water to Hurley from a well field near the Grant County Airport. The town of Silver City transferred its water rights at the well field to Hurley because the town faced the curtailment of water from the mines, which have provided the town water for many years.
The money will pay for the transmission line for the water, the wellhead pump and head tank, and a booster pump to take water to Hurley.
The deadline to accept the funding was Aug. 3 by 3 p.m. or it would be allocated to other requesters, Lucero said. The town met the deadline.
The funding, along with $2.1 million allocated to the town of Hurley for the project by the Interstate Stream Commission from the Arizona Water Settlements Act; the $80,000 match from the town, which the council had encumbered for the purpose; and almost $1.8 million from the Colonia water program, complete the amount needed for water to flow to Hurley and its residents.
Hurley also signed a letter of intent to meet the conditions of the grant portion of the funding. The town waits seven to 10 days to receive the letter after approval from New Mexico USDA Rural Development. Lucero noted the town has up to 40 years to repay the loan portion.
Lucero said it typically takes the state 30 days to review such a request for funding. "The request was submitted last week and it was reviewed by Tuesday. The state was very aware of the project, because Alex Brown (Silver City town manager) and I had presented the project to the state infrastructure conference, and I had been talking to the federal USDA about it."