Governor makes stop at Southwest Cheese

STAFF WRITER

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Gov. Susana Martinez made an appearance Monday morning at the Southwest Cheese plant to announce 50 new jobs that will rake in average annual salaries of $60,000.

link Staff photo: Tony Bullocks

Gov. Susana Martinez announces the

creation of jobs Monday at Southwest Cheese.

Groundbreaking for the $140 million, 110,000-square foot expansion is set for early 2016 with completion within two years, according to Southwest Cheese President George Chappell.

Clovis Industrial Development Corporation Executive Director Chase Gentry previously told the Clovis News Journal that the new expansion would bring in around $37.5 million for the local economy over a 10-year period.

Martinez said money set aside through a local economic development act was used to help pay for the plant's massive expansion.

Martinez added that the act was approved through the legislature during the last session, and she signed it into law.

The money, she said, helps the state be more competitive with others in our area and helps companies that need financial help getting “something done inside the building,” and assists them with infrastructure improvements.

“That's what that fund was for,” Martinez said after her presentation. “It is a fund that almost if not all (states) in the country have.

We almost had zero (economic development money) five years ago, so we can't be competitive if we don't have something our state next door has and we can offer to them.”

Clovis Mayor David Lansford began the presentation at the plant, noting the importance eastern New Mexicans have on the country's food source and the country's defense.

“Think about what the people of eastern New Mexico do,” Clovis Mayor David Lansford said. “They feed the world, and they defend freedom, and they move goods and services from the east to the west. It's a remarkable thing that the people of New Mexico do. I can't think of a better thing other than feed the world and defend freedom.”

Echoing Lansford's statement, Martinez said feeding the world is “the most important thing.”

“Your product goes all over the world, and now it's expanding,” she said. “It's diversifying our economy, our private sector. We want to diversify the private sector to make sure it's made up of all different kinds in our state.”

Martinez continued, saying that if New Mexico continued to rely on the Department of Defense and the oil and gas industry for revenue, it could be difficult to predict the budget when there's “dysfunction,” in Washington, D.C.

“You'll never know what the budget's going to be — well, there hasn't been one — and so you don't know what's coming your way,” Martinez said. “When those start to lose a revenue stream, where do we go to make up for it?”

Diversity, she said, in the economy and balancing it out with businesses, corporation taxes and gross receipts taxes.

And it's worked, she said. In the last few years, Ernst and Young moved New Mexico’s business-friendly tax rank from third worst in the region to “the best in the Southwest,” she said.

“It's a lot to be proud of,” Martinez added. “We found out we (had) the highest business tax rates in the country, but not anymore.

We reduced our taxes by 22 percent. We used to impose layers and layers of taxes on our construction contractors and manufacturers, making it more expensive for them to operate, but not anymore.”

That, along with cutting taxes 37 different times, she said, is what helped move New Mexico up in the ranks and attract more businesses to stimulate the state's economy.

Martinez said New Mexico has three of the top five metro areas for export growth in the country, and she wants to make Clovis the fourth.

“We're not done yet. We can never be done,” Martinez said. “We have to continue to work hard and we still have a lot to get done.”