Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Applications being accepted for funding assistance

Clovis Economic Development (CED) announced it is now accepting applications from businesses to qualify for funding assistance under the Local Economic Development Act.

The purpose of the funding is to incentivize new retail businesses to come to Clovis and existing ones to expand, said Lee Malloy, president of the Clovis Economic Development Corporation. The types of businesses eligible for the funding are ones that fall into categories the city has identified as underserved.

The City of Clovis had a gap analysis done that identifies these gaps in retail, and the city commission will vote on whether to adopt that analysis at its July 7th meeting, Malloy said.

The LEDA program is called the Local Economic Development Act for Retail, he said.

“During the 2021 Legislative Session, the New Mexico State Legislature adopted Senate Bill 49, which changed the LEDA to allow municipalities with a population over 35,000 to utilize their municipal funding for retail in their communities,” as stated in a CED press release. “Now, LEDA allows municipalities, like the City of Clovis, to use a percentage of funding from gross receipts tax (GRT) to incentivize industry, as well as new and existing retail.”

Ernie Kos, chamber director of the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, said Clovis Mayor Mike Morris went to the state legislature and “pushed for every county in New Mexico to be able to apply for this LEDA funding.Up until now, only industry could get that incentive.”

“If a retail company comes to Clovis and qualifies, it will be able to get help with the purchase of land, the cost of the building and infrastructure, like utilities to the site,” Kos said. “It is an economic development tool for Clovis.”

The program is designed to attract applicants who meet one of the gap categories in retail identified by the gap analysis, Malloy said. The gap refers to “almost all things retail, including women’s apparel, sporting goods, women’s accessories, accessories for the home, groceries and building products – jewelry, almost anything retail.”

“How the applicant addresses the gap analysis will make the difference in who is selected,” he said.

Other criteria the program is looking at in the applications is how the business “will enhance the quality of life in Clovis, prevent the leakage of gross receipts (sales tax) from the City of Clovis and job opportunities for folks in the community,” he said.

If a business qualifies for funding, it can receive up to 2.5 percent of the taxable gross receipts generated from the sales in the particular business that year, he said. “The incentive lasts up to 10 years.”

This money can be used to “cover any investment made by the business, including land, building and infrastructure, and for businesses that lease, the lease payment,” he added.

“We hope this incentivizes retailers to actively pursue retail business in Clovis,” he said. “It would lower the hurdle that it takes to get into business. For a large retailer, that would be a sizeable chunk of money.”

The LEDA for Retail task force began meeting in January through city appointments, he said. “We came up with draft policies and procedures for LEDA for Retail, which provides local economic development assistance for retail in Clovis.”

Rachel Forrester, communications manager for Clovis Economic Development, said there is no deadline for applying. To apply, visit clovisnm.org/ced-home/leda-retail/.