Analysis paints grim jobs picture for Sandoval County

RIO RANCHO — Sandoval County urgently needs to find ways to create employment to stave off the expected effects of the shrinking federal job market.

That’s the grim picture economic development specialist Mark Lautman painted for county commissioners at a recent workshop on the topic.

Lautman has been involved with numerous economic development projects, including Mesa del Sol in Albuquerque and the Santa Teresa industrial park in southern New Mexico near the Mexican border.

He estimates the state lost about 50,000 jobs from 2008 through 2011 and will likely lose thousands more if the federal government follows through on expected spending cuts.

Based on a recent analysis, Lautman estimates the county will have to generate more than 700 “economic-based” jobs each year through 2022 to bring its economy back to the level it was in 2007 before the recession. Economic-based jobs create products or services that bring out-of-state revenue into New Mexico.

After listening to Lautman and other economic development specialists, commissioners agreed to create a task force to draw up a strategy to promote economic development county-wide. They will discuss the topic again at their regular meeting this month.

Commissioner Don Chapman, who has pushed for action on economic development since being elected in 2010, said he hopes he can get commission support for establishing a way to fund economic development projects.

He outlined the concept in an interview after the workshop. His idea is to use interest earned from invested property tax monies to create an economic development fund. He said the fund could be used to help an employer with initial hires or start-up costs.

“We want things that are going to create jobs now,” Chapman said.

Voters approved the property tax in 2008 to raise money for ongoing operations at two new Rio Rancho hospitals. Property owners began paying the tax of $4.25 per $1,000 of a home’s taxable value in 2009.

Chapman said the county invests the money until it has to be distributed to the hospitals and the interest earned amounts to nearly “seven figures” so far.
— This article appeared on page 11 of the Albuquerque Journal