Silver City town council members on different sides of the budget

By Lynn Janes

The Silver City Town Council held a special meeting July 23, 2026. Attendance to the meeting included Mayor Simon Wheaton-Smith, and Councilors Nicholas Prince, Stan Snider, Victor Nanez and Angela Salaiz.

The council approved the agenda.

New business

This meeting had been called only to discuss and ask questions about the July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, budget.

Jacqui Olea, interim town manager, introduced Randy Hernandez, business operations manager, and Lori Ortiz, finance director.

Hernandez had provided a packet for the council to review on the final budget to be presented to the council at the next meeting for approval.

The health insurance premiums had increased 15 percent. Last year the town's portion had been $1.8 million and now will be $2.2 million. The general liability premiums had also increased about 7 percent. Last year had been $527,000 and now will be $567,000. All employees had received a cost of living adjustment to their wages. Nonunion members received 1.5 percent, fire department 2 percent and police department 2.5 percent. Hernandez said they also expected increases in external services.

The Southwest Solid Waste Authority has increased their fees by 100 percent. The rates for sanitation will be increasing in the near future. The Grant County Regional Dispatch has also increased their rates by 40 percent.

The total annual debt has been calculated for the year at approximately $1.8 million for several loan sources. They had consolidated several department line items to simplify the budget for each department.

The projected budget will have a beginning cash balance of $1,111,036 with investments of $67,451. The projected revenues will be $18,336,220 and expenditures of $14,945,558 leaving a balance of $1,690,850. The state requires they keep 12 percent of that in reserves which will be $1,245,463.17 leaving an adjusted balance in the general fund of $433,509.83.

Hernandez continued to go over the budget items and said when he finished the council could ask any questions they had.

Snider asked besides the utility bills what other revenues did they have coming in. Hernandez said gross receipts tax.

Prince questioned the reason for some differences he saw in the July 23, 2026, report and the numbers Hernandez had in the budget he presented. Hernandez said they had made small adjustments to be more conservative, so they reduced the revenues. Prince, expressed he was happy to see the budget increases in the departments. "I just have to say that this is actually building an administrative capacity for us to be able to run our departments, answer the phones and provide the critical services we do in the city. I absolutely have to commend our departments, especially Ms. Ortiz, Mr. Hernandez and Ms. Olea. Thank you all so much right now for being able to make these changes happen."

Salaiz had concerns about the library and museum budget in comparison to public works department. The library has a $723,644 and the museum $774,440. Public works has a budget of $143,950 and highway and streets have a $445,916 budget. She had pointed this out at the last meeting. The public works has three employees over highways and streets. They employees start at $14 an hour. "That's not good and the raises are not enough, and they are the backbone of the town." She asked if the wastewater treatment plant went down would they send librarians and museum employees to fix it. These employees from public works have to live in public housing. She felt this to be ridiculous. Her son-in-law thought about working for the parks because he has experience in that type of work but when he saw the starting pay, he decided not to.

Prince had reviewed the budget in detail and went over some of the budget and the parks department had increased. Ortiz explained how public works had been broken down into subcategories. Prince pointed out that it had increased from the previous year. He said, "These are significant increases that I am satisfied with."

Salaiz said maybe significant increases but not enough. She pointed out all the potholes in the streets, sidewalks and railing for the high sidewalks. Although they had increased the funding, for these other departments (library and museum) would be unacceptable. "We need to be fiscally responsible." Salaiz added that, "We have a golf course hemorrhaging $60,000 a month. This is unacceptable." She added that she is indigenous here and her family went back generations. "The budget is out of control, and I don't like it." The parks employees ask her all the time when they will receive raises. When they ask the administration, they have been told money didn't grow on trees but apparently, they do for some departments but not the important ones.

Salaiz said, "You need to take a good hard look when a leftist and a conservative (referring to her and Nanez) agree with something this much. You need to take caution when two people from such opposite sides of the political aisle agree with each other."

Nanez said he did agree with Salaiz. He has always been a blue collar guy and cared for the working man and had been a union representative. He also felt an enormous amount of money had been budgeted to the library and museum and it could not be justified. Whenever they have a function or event, the city employees have been there to set up and clean up. "They are the backbone." He felt that maybe the reason he and Salaiz had a different perspective, from the other councilors is "We are homeboys, We are indigenous, and my family goes back a long way." They all had been hard-working individuals.

Nanez continued that everyone leaves. The university has a police academy but because of the wages with the police department here they leave and cited the same problem with the fire department. "I think we need to change focus on where our money goes to better the community." He again agreed with everything Salaiz had said and appreciated her perspective.

Snider had some questions about the budget for the museum and salaries. They have been missing a volunteer coordinator, and he wanted to know if that salary would still be in the budget. Hernandez said no and only five full-time employees have been included in that budget. The rest will be done through contractual services. Snider asked if that would mean temporary employees, and Hernandez said yes.

Wheaton-Smith said he understood the museum society agreed to pay some of the part-time people. Hernandez said they had not last year.

Salaiz interjected why the museum society had not paid anything the previous year. They must be fiscally responsible for the funds they gained from donations. The town of Silver City cut them off and continues to do so. Since the contract had not been honored by the city to provide a budget, it no longer had been their job to provide that funding. She had been researching the situation for a while, and they do not have an obligation anymore to provide funding. "Their job is to protect the money for the future and figure out what to do according to the law."

Prince went over the gross numbers and they did not cover all the details. He broke it down by what they need to do the meet the needs of the community. He said he divided them by the number of people they have in each department. He continued to list departments and the budget for each, how many people in each department and then what that it came to for each employee. He went on for some time and added he felt he would be doing the right thing. He defended his position by saying each police officer has $138,000 delegated to each officer and the library only had $72,300 to each employee with his calculations. He continued that the library serves 100-200 public members every day. He reiterated again that seeing all the department budgets increase had been a huge step. "I am the most senior member of the council, and I have gone through this process four times previously and this is the starkest change."

Salaiz said, "Great, why don't we give them raises and I mean big raises. I am not talking about the little 1 percent. It is a pittance. I live on disability, so I know how little it is." Wheaton-Smith suggested she make a proposal. Hernandez said they heard her loud and clear and understand the importance of the employees. "Unfortunately, with the budget we have inherited, none of us were in these roles in previous years to have control over that. It's going to take time to get to that point that we want to see for the employees as well." He continued to add, "The town didn't end up in a financial crisis overnight and can't course correct overnight." He said in the future they could reach a healthy position and then will be able to pay the employees what they need to. At this point they didn't think they could even provide the cost of living raise but had.

Prince went on to reiterate portions of the budget and numbers for some time. He addressed the debt and how it added up to millions every year. He hoped at some point to see that all be paid, and it go to staff wages. Debt causes them to have to tighten, and he thought that had been unfortunate.

Salaiz said meanwhile the town continues to stack up lawsuits against them. She added some have some teeth. Although they have been paying off a $10 million lawsuit quicker than thought they could have more stacked against them. She said not all would win but thought some will.

Prince commented on what she said and spoke to how things had run in the past but no matter what it could not bring people back from the dead. He added that progress will be most departments will see a significant increase in their budget although a lot will be put towards insurance and not take home pay. "This is outside our control." He said efforts will be made to bring down some of the costs. They will be making sure the public employees will be taken care of in ways that in history of the town have not been done. "I am very happy and proud of this budget."

Salaiz said, "Meanwhile we've got three people on the roads department. Talk about stress because they get complained about all the time. We may sit up here and thank them but everybody in town does not thank them. All they hear is complaints because there are three people on that crew period. Our departments are understaffed because no one wants to work for us. We don't pay well; we don't pay what they're worth." She said that would not happen but if they started with $16 an hour and $2 raises across the board would be a great start. However, the town will be pouring money into things not needed. She suggested the museum society should take over day-to-day management of the museum and that would cut that budget.

Wheaton-Smith said the museum society has over $1 million they have been sitting on. Currently they have been working towards discussions with the society to re-engage them. "We are going to be making some demands, and I think that can reduce the museum budget." He continued to lay out the plans they have in regards to the museum society and added they had not honored their commitment.

Wheaton-Smith asked Hernandez what mechanism would be used with the departments to detect when they will be overspending. Hernandez said they have had discussions with the department heads that they will have full knowledge of their budgets and will have monthly reports that will be closely monitored. Wheaton-Smith said this would be a great improvement. He expressed concerns over the amount that would be paid to Sunny 505 and the $100,000 to be paid in November. Olea said they would be closely monitoring all their expenditures. Currently they have a purchase order with the town for a hard stop at $190,000 and recommended reducing it.

Snider has some questions about solid waste. The first had to do with the landfill fees and the 100 percent increase. Hernandez said they would start with 4.6 percent increase for the CPI and then have some time to see what kind of increase they will have to make and appropriately phase it in and not hit he residents with an immediate high rate increase. He had some questions about some of the other fees listed and Olea answered.

Prince and Wheaton-Smith continued to point out the positive aspects of the budget they could see. Prince said this budget had a better budgeting process and again commended the staff. Wheaton-Smith said it had been an amazing turn around and provided a degree of transparency. He gave a lot of credit to Hernandez and Ortiz for what they had done.

Salaiz said, "I just want to put it on the record since you put it on the record that the museum society was not honoring its commitments; neither did the town of Silver City. The first move was the town of Silver City not honoring its commitments. "I don't know what anybody in this room expects for the museum society to do except to protect." Simon said he could not speak to this as he is not a lawyer but he, Olea and the attorney have met and will have more meetings and will hopefully work it out.

Prince broke in and wanted to make sure of an agenda item and changes for the department heads and the budgets. He continued for some time addressing this. Hernandez addressed this in detail. The department heads will be receiving monthly reports and communication with the purchasing agent.

Snider went back to the solid waste part of the budget and wanted to know what those fees entailed. Olea went over what would be included in each line item.

Wheaton-Smith had questions on the new recreation center. Hernandez told him what page to look at and said this line item would not be exclusive to the recreation center but included some of the parks employees. Wheaton-Smith asked which line item the director of the recreation center would address. Hernandez said what the council had would have to be broken down further and said he could provide that for them.

Wheaton-Smith suggested Salaiz and Nanez give the finance department specific recommendations to resolve the issue. "You have the responsibility to give the finance department some recommendations."

Hernandez pointed out the budget would be a living document so if adjustments needed to be made, they could be. "We intend to be transparent and give monthly reports."

Snider wanted to address the 100 percent increase in solid waste. He wanted to know when they would have an estimate on how much of a rate increase would be on the water bill. Hernandez said it would take effect on September 1, 2026, and hoped to have it sometime in August.

Wheaton-Smith said he has been grateful for what they had done with the budget this fiscal year compared to last year. He thanked Hernandez and Ortiz again. Hernandez said Ortiz had done the heavy lifting when it came to the budget.

Nanez thanked both for the hard work and knew they had put in a lot of hours. He also thanked them for the transparency. "We need to be held accountable to our constituents."

Prince wanted to add this had been the first day in a long time that the future looked bright to him. "One of the things that always seems to come up with public service is not only do we have to inherit the problems of the past. If we actually get a chance to do that and we face them, great. We just have to solve the problems of the present, you know, and it's not like any of those have gotten any easier." He then commended Hernandez and Ortiz again.

Salaiz thanked them for their hard work. "I know I am a difficult person. You just have to get used to it." She added she would continue when she saw correction that needed to be made for her constituents.

Wheaton-Smith said when he had been on the council he had gone through several budgets and this one had been completely different and he thought the town was headed in the right direction. He thanked the council for all their questions and comments. "That is what a democracy is all about."

Nanez had one last comment. He felt as long as the employees know they have them in mind they will have a better response from them. "We are dedicated to see how we can increase their wages, benefits and better working environment. It will make a difference to them."

Meeting adjourned.