Courtesy of the Las Cruces Sun-News, by Brook Stockberger
LAS CRUCES — Jon Barela said that there is a lot of good news for the state of New Mexico, but he would be remiss if he didn’t also raise awareness of what potentially awaits.
“There’s a dark storm gathering on the horizon,” the state’s secretary of economic development said. “We’re wary of the over reliance on federal dollars coming into the state.”
Whether the oft-mentioned fiscal cliff takes place at the start of the new year — with its deep cuts in federal spending — or not, Barela said the state needs to be prepared for the fact that federal spending is going to decrease. “The federal government can no longer be considered a growth industry here in New Mexico,” said Barela, who spoke at the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance’s monthly luncheon at Hotel Encanto on Tuesday.
To set the state up for the future, Barela said he has worked with state Sen. George Muñoz, a Democrat, and others to come up with the New Century Economy Jobs Agenda. Barela pointed out that a University of New Mexico study reports the state could lose as many as 20,000 jobs due to federal cuts. From October 2011 to October of this year alone, the state lost about 4,500 government jobs, mostly federal government. In addition, the area of professional and business services — which is heavily weighted with jobs that deal with the government — saw a setback of 3,400 jobs.
“We need to be prepared, we need to be poised to offset these job losses,” he said. “These are sobering numbers.”
The jobs agenda pushes for more private sector growth with a multiple-point plan that includes ideas like corporate income tax reduction, capital outlay reform, spaceport informed consent legislation and others. He said that these can lead to private job growth. “With job creation, you have a broader base revenue stream,” Barela said. “Gross receipt taxes increase, payroll taxes increase.”
He pointed out that spaceport informed consent — a law which would protect spaceport suppliers from lawsuits — needs to be passed. “It’s a critical, critical piece of legislation,” Barela said. “We need to get it passed and we need to get it passed this session.”
He said that the state has a certificate of occupancy now for Spaceport America — north of Las Cruces — and an anchor tenant in Virgin Galactic, but the future of the facility could be in jeopardy. He said there are 12 other states with spaceports, most of which already have informed consent. “We could possibly lose our anchor tenant or (the ability) to recruit new tenants,” Barela said.
Other points of the New Century Jobs Agenda include money for the Local Economic Development Act and Job Training Incentive Program as well as investment in MainStreet programs — he pointed to the Las Cruces downtown revitalization effort as a good example — and a single sales factor, whereby income taxes are based on sales the employer makes inside the state.
Las Cruces businessman Steve Newby said he thinks the jobs agenda is good as a “package” and the different points of the plan are set up well together. “You can combine forces,” he said.
Brook Stockberger may be reached at 575-541-5457; follow him on Twitter @Bstockberger
