By Lynn Janes
The town of Hurley held a special meeting July 28, 2026. Mayor Reynaldo Maynes and Councilors Ester Gil, Robert Candelaria and Jason Cox attended. Aron Phillips did not attend.
The council approved resolution no. 2-2026/2027 to participate in the local government road fund administered by the DOT (Department of Transportation). Darlene McBride, town clerk, let the council know this was for the application for the grant. It will be used to rehabilitate and maintain Diaz Avenue doing chip seal. The grant has a 75 percent funding with a 25 percent match. The total grant will be $98,340.
The council approved resolution no. 3-2026/2027 to request a match waiver for the local government road fund administered by the DOT. This will be for the application just approved and the waiver amount will be $24, 585.
The council approved resolution no. 4-2026/2027 for the fourth quarter budget adjustments for fiscal year 2025/2026. The council had a question that McBride answered. It pertained to the movement of funds to cover a project that will be reimbursed later.
The council approved resolution no. 5-2026/2027 for the final quarter financial report for fiscal year 2025/2026. McBride wanted to bring attention to the water enterprise that they had received $800,000, but it had been a reimbursement.
The council approved resolution no. 6-2026/2027 to adopt the budget for 2026/2027 after some discussion. McBride said they had approved the interim budget in June, and this was the final budget. She had not changed much but had increased revenues because of the increase of utilities approved by the council.
The council had received a copy of a letter from Southwest Solid Waste Authority, and they will be doubling their rates for landfill services. McBride said due to town ordnance they could not double the rates but it will be a process that starts with the CPI increase. Next, they will be doing an ordinance to allow for the rest of the increase. The letter says next year they will be returning to the CPI rate increase only. This had not been included in the budget because the ordinance had not been approved.
Gil asked what the bills would be, and McBride said next month the residents would have about a $5 increase for the CPI and in October will see the next increase due to the landfill fees doubling. McBride said she knew in prior discussions with the council they had not wanted to increase rates for the residents. The town had transferred funds to wastewater, so the fees did not have to increase. McBride said they could not do that anymore. Maynes said that deference of increase had been done by Mayor Ed Stevens.
With a 100 percent increase the town will have to increase those rates. Maynes said at the time Stevens did that they knew it could not be forever. Some decisions will have to be made in the next few months. He knew some would not like it, but they should look at the library budget. The library has not had the traffic or participation expected. They had hired a librarian at $15 and hour for 15 hours a week. A resident involved with the library and starting said they had requested 20 hours a week. The librarian did not apply for the grants that would have kept the library open. The resident said they should not be punished because this person had not done their job, but the volunteers have been filling in due to the resignation of the librarian. The library still has funding on the current budget. The conversation continued for a while about the library and Manyes said they didn't have to make a decision that day. The resident continued to insist the library should not be punished because the librarian had not done her job.
The next regular meeting will be August 11, 2026, at 5:00 pm
Meeting adjourned.
