Just too Close to the Duke City

New Mexico Business Journal, May, 2001 by JOHN D. III German

The county is working to develop its own, mostly independent, economic base. There are positive signs.

KEEPING PEOPLE CLOSER TO home might be the economic development theme in Valencia County these days. The county is growing. It's population, now about 65,000, has increased 44 percent since 1990. Many area businesses are growing too, creating job openings. But the area continues to suffer from its proximity to Albuquerque. Well over half of Valencia County's 30,000-strong labor force -- 60 percent -- commutes to Albuquerque to collect their paychecks.

After work they tend to spend their wages in Albuquerque, where they eat, shop, have their cars serviced, and pay for entertainment. About the only thing many locals spend in Valencia County is the night. In fact, its residents spend within county limits an average of just $5,300 a year each on retail goods and services, compared to almost $9,400 per resident in Bernalillo County, according to the Census Bureau (1992 figures).

"Getting more businesses in here that hire people at good wages will encourage people to leave their jobs in Albuquerque to live and work here," said Diane Huckabee, executive director of the Los Lunas/Bosque Farms Chamber of Commerce. "The benefit is they'll spend their time and their incomes here."

The communities along Valencia County's 25-mile-long business corridor south of Albuquerque have hooked some big manufacturing and distribution firms during the last few years, including the new Wal-Mart Distribution Center in Los Lunas, which employs about 450 people.

Merritt Distributing, Wal-Mart's sister trucking firm, employs another 200. Add in Wal-Mart's 400-plus retail employees (many part-time) at Belen's Wal-Mart Supercenter, and you get the county's largest private employer by far.

Other relatively new or newly expanding manufacturers include Avonite, Inc., Solo Cup, and SudChemie Performance Packaging (formerly United Desiccants), employing a combined total of about 600 people. The Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail yard in Belen -- where freight trains on transcontinental trips have been inspected, refueled, and serviced since 1907 -- continues to supply a steady base of more than 350 well-paying jobs.

Retail is booming too, with new outlets and conveniences popping up at the Interstate 25 exits and along main streets in Los Lunas and Belen. The new Sun Ranch development at the corner of I-25 and Highway 6, for example, now includes a new Microtel hotel, a Century 21 real estate office, and the eight-screen Translux Starlight Cinema. Still, thousands of Valencia County professionals flock north daily for better wages and white-collar jobs.

"We need to create more jobs in Valencia County like the ones people are commuting to Albuquerque for," said Mike Lowrimore, president of Wells Fargo Bank in Belen.

Los Lunas is working to attract more employers to its mostly empty Los Morros Business Park on Highway 6, said Huckabee. Currently its two tenants are the Wal-Mart Distribution Center and Wall Colmonoy Corp., which makes metal-alloy powders used for specialty coatings.

"At the same time, we don't want uncontrolled, explosive growth," Lowrimore said. "The people in this area have deep roots, and we look at things from a rural perspective. We want industries that are clean and don't use much water, such as call centers."

Cobisa Corp. of Houston recently scaled back its proposal to build a large power plant near Belen after the city government raised concerns about water use. The more modest proposal now being considered would require far less water.

While Valencia County professionals are commuting to Albuquerque to collect and spend their wages, many healthy businesses can't find enough skilled workers to meet their business demands. The Wal-Mart Distribution Center, for instance, advertises positions with starting wages of $9.50 an hour and can't find enough help.

Sisneros Brothers Manufacturing, a Belen-based sheet metal fabricator, recently landed a $1.5 million contract to provide ductwork for U.S. Navy ships. But finding and training people to do the work is a daily struggle, said Martin Sisneros, the company's owner. Sisneros Brothers employs 50 people. The Navy contract, which represents about 8 percent of the company's annual revenue, along with the pending Intel plant expansion in Albuquerque, likely will require a hiring program.

Sisneros is among several local business owners working with local educators to help young people gain the skills they need to fill openings in the Valencia County job market. "There is a real effort being made by the private sector to help our educational institutions turn out folks with job skills," said Bob Davey, president of the Valley Improvement Association (VIA). The VIA is supporting improved access to education with grants and in-kind contributions to new elementary and middle schools, he said.

Keeping people home also requires access to the same conveniences and services they are traveling to Albuquerque for, said Lowrimore. "If you're going to declare your independence from a city like Albuquerque, you've got to offer the same amenities."