The Bosque Farms Village Council laid out its requests for funding for various capital projects in its Infrastructure Capital Improvement Plan for 2023-27.
In its annual ICIP, for 2023, the village put a second wastewater treatment clarifier and sludge processing facility at the No. 1 position. The project totals almost $18.9 million with $11.5 million still unfunded. The council members are putting the majority of the $958,277 the village received in American Rescue Plan Act funding toward a second clarifier.
Second is a request for $2 million for various road projects through out the village and an arsenic removal system for $1,850,000 is third.
Village Clerk/Administrator Gayle Jones said arsenic levels in village Well 2 tend to run high and, in the future, another well might need to be drilled and its water blended with that of Well 2 in order to reduce the naturally occurring arsenic.
A new well is the village’s No. 1 priority for 2027 at $1,820,924.
The No. 4 priority for 2023 is renovations for the village police and fire station for $500,000. The fifth priority is $3,230,560 for a 700 MHZ communications system for the Valencia Regional Emergency Communications Center.
For projects in 2024, the council is asking for $500,000 for a splash park and play pool, and $1.5 million for storm and surface water control, as part of a county wide effort.
Jones said after an informational meeting earlier this month, it was evident flooding throughout the county needs to be addressed.
“It hasn’t happened to us in a very long time, but it doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen tomorrow,” Jones said.
The top two projects for 2025 are construction of new village offices at $1.8 million and expansion of the community center, a $400,000 request.
The No. 1 priority for 2026 is construction of a recreational facility for $2,062,595, and the No. 1 priority for 2027 is a new well to blend with Well 2.
Julia M. Dendinger began working at the VCNB in 2006. She covers Valencia County government, Belen Consolidated Schools and the village of Bosque Farms. She is a member of the Society of Professional Journalists Rio Grande chapter’s board of directors.