Taos council holds CDBG public hearing as wastewater plant emerges as top need

TAOS, N.M. — The Town of Taos Council on July 22 held a public hearing on Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program activities and solicited community input on projects to include in an upcoming state grant application, with town staff identifying the wastewater treatment plant as the leading candidate.

Grants administrator Karen Gonzales opened the hearing with a summary of CDBG rules and eligibility, saying, "This meeting will cover the Community Development Block Grant Program" and outlining who may apply and which activities are eligible. She told the council New Mexico receives approximately $11,000,000 annually for CDBG and said the town does not qualify as a colonia, noting Taos is roughly 270 miles from the U.S.–Mexico border.

The hearing is a required step before the town selects a project and files a grant application. Gonzales said applicants must hold at least one public meeting before choosing a project, prepare a budget and scope of work, and complete projects within 24 months of a fully executed grant agreement. She also confirmed the application deadline is Aug. 19, 2025.

Town staff and council members discussed several projects already on the town’s Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan (ICIP). Gonzales listed the ICIP’s top three candidates as a wastewater treatment facility renovation, a septic-receival system, and reconstruction of a youth and family center. She told the council she had requested and received a low-to-moderate-income (LMI) methodology determination for those three projects and that the town’s LMI percentage is 56 percent, which meets CDBG requirements without a separate household survey.

Council members and staff emphasized the wastewater treatment plant’s immediate needs. Gonzales summarized prior engineering cost estimates, saying that the consultant had "broken it down into three pretty big projects, but one of them is at 1,800,000.0. The second phase is almost a million, and the third phase is also almost a million." Council members said the plant’s problems are mostly equipment failures and that funding a plant upgrade could free other water/sewer funds for additional improvements.

Councilmember Oswald and other members asked whether other ICIP items with ready designs — such as the State Road 240 project — would be eligible. Gonzales said she had not yet presented a road project for CDBG consideration and could not confirm eligibility at the hearing. She also noted that some potential projects, including certain well repairs, might be achievable without Bureau of Reclamation funding.

Gonzales reviewed past CDBG awards affecting the town: a 2018 well project funded at $750,000 (town match $75,000 with additional leveraging), a 2018 comprehensive-plan update at $50,000 (town match $5,000), and a 2019 $500,000 economic development award tied to rehabilitation of the Hotel Willa (private match $500,000). She said a 2022 land-use planning grant had not yet been completed.

No members of the public participated in person or online during the hearing, and no formal project selection was made. Councilmembers said they plan to continue discussion and likely hold another meeting before the Aug. 19 application deadline to select a project to submit.

The council approved the meeting agenda at the start of the session and adjourned after the hearing.