Round Rio Rancho

New Mexico State and Rio Rancho City leaders announced today that Green2V will construct a one million sq foot manufacturing facility in the City of Vision. The company plans to break ground within the month on a 124 acre site to be acquired from the State Land Office.  As with all such transactions, the process is a little complicated – The City of Rio Rancho will buy the land from the State for $6.9 Million. Green2v will supply the land purchase money to the city.  Rio Rancho will speed the project through permitting and approval processes, and will be installing $7.2 Million worth of roads, sewers and other infrastructure.  Part of the facility’s contruction costs will be financed by $500 Million in Industrial Revenue Bonds issued by the city, to be paid off by Green2V over time.  Certain taxes on property and capital equipment will probably be waived for a period of time, as is common to entice a project of this size to locate here.

The construction will be done in phases over a 5 year period. The first phase will hopefully be completed in time to make and ship product by Summer, 2011.  Eventually the plant may employ 1500 workers.

Green2V’s CEO, Bill Sheppard was formerly a Vice President at Intel, and was partly responsible for much of the expansion of that plant in the early 2000’s. The company’s slogan –  “Sand to Kilowatts” refers to the fact that they intend to control all aspects of their product creation, from the raw materials to distribution and installation.

If you own a home, are over 65 years of age with moderate income, or if you are disabled, the State of New Mexico may have a gift for you….

Under a state law revised in 2008, if you meet the above criteria you may be able to freeze the property tax valuation on your home at a lower level. Here are the particulars:

You must apply for qualification under this program each year, no later than 30 days after receiving the Notice of Valuation. After the year 2001, the applicant must be 65 or more years old (in the year the application is made). The applicant must be the owner and occupant of the property and it must be their primary residence.
 
If you are applying based upon disability instead of age, you must be blind or permanently disabled and not be expected to improve (medically).
The previous year’s modified gross income must be $32,000 or less (including all income from a spouse and dependents).

Although qualification under this program does not guarantee that your property taxes will not increase (as the mill levy rate can still adjust), the property valuation will stay the same (and that will certainly help keep the taxes down). The application is a simple, one-page form that should take 5 minutes to complete (if you have your tax return handy).