Estancia Valley sees huge uptick in gross receipts
The state’s Economic Development Department recently released its 4th Quarter County Economic Report, and communities in the Estancia Valley are showing signs of much-needed economic recovery.
Within the last quarter of Fiscal Year 2021, Torrance County saw a 269% increase in Matched Taxable Gross Receipts (MTGR). Santa Fe County is up 12%, and Bernalillo County is up 10%.
The data used to create the individual county reports is valuable because the MTGR matches tax payments with reported receipts for each taxpayer by industry, reflecting spending trends.
The report gives a detailed breakdown of where and when money is being spent within the 33 counties that make up New Mexico. The bulk of the increase in Torrance County is due to construction, said Myra Pancrazio, executive director of the Estancia Valley Economic Development Association.
“The majority of that [growth] is the construction of the Western Spirit transmission line, and the Western Spirit Wind Farm. That’s all a part of Pattern Energy,” she said.
The Western Spirit Wind project comprises four separate wind farms located in Guadalupe, Lincoln, and Torrance counties.
These four projects combined will total more than 1,050 megawatts of renewable energy and will be the “largest single phase renewable energy buildout in U.S. history,” said Matt Dallas, spokesman for Pattern Energy.
During peak construction time, the wind farm and transmission lines project employed over 1,500 individuals, Dallas said.
“The project is Pattern, so they subcontract all the work out,” Pancrazio said. “What we ask them to do is to utilize local [labor] as much as they can on the subcontractors.”
Some of those subcontractors have been union labor out of Albuquerque, Dallas said.
Once construction is complete, “there will be more than 100 full time positions” available, said Jeremy Turner, Director of New Mexico Project Development with Pattern. Though some wind power jobs have already been filled, Turner said more jobs will be added for site work.
Turner said that construction on the wind farm and supporting transmission lines should be completed “by the end of the year.”
“We’re very proud of the work we’ve put in so far, and in the time that we’ve done it,” said Turner, calling the project “a huge undertaking.”
The influx of laborers to the area has been beneficial for local businesses as well, Pancrazio said.
“People are staying in our RV parks, the hotels, they’re eating at our restaurants, they’re shopping at our grocery stores, they're buying gas from our gas stations throughout the county,” she said. “So, I think that it has a positive impact to all the communities in Torrance County, including southern Santa Fe County and the Edgewood area as well.”
Whether or not local populations are increasing as a result of the economic recovery taking place in the Estancia Valley is not yet clear.
“I think it’s a little bit too early to tell,” Pancrazio said. “We’ll be able to see an increase in home sales or rentals when the construction’s done. That'll tell us who’s moved here, and then it also gives a good indication of what other businesses are opening up. And we’ll be able to put an analysis together to see the effect of this once construction’s done.”
Additional growth in the Estancia Valley can be attributed to an uptick in retail trade. Retail MTGRS in Torrance County rose by 13%, in Bernalillo County by 26%, and in Santa Fe County by 27%.
As the upward economic trend continues, Pancrazio mentioned other forthcoming projects.
“Armaspec in Moriarty,” said Pancrazio of the firearms accessory manufacturing facility, “is starting the second phase of their build-out. It’s a manufacturing operation. They've already completed their first construction project. There’s a natural gas station being built in Moriarty. We’re fixing to begin construction on the City of Moriarty’s new fire station. The renovations are completed at Fatpipe in Edgewood. Construction on the RV park in Estancia...is getting there.”
“I think each community has something going on,” she said. “Economic development takes time. It doesn’t all happen quickly; it happens over a matter of time. But we’re very busy right now.”