City of Roswell & Chaves County

Chaves County is a rural area located in southeastern New Mexico with a strong history of farming and ranching. Roswell, the County’s largest municipality, was the home of the Strategic Air Command’s Walker Air Force Base and the infamous “Enola Gay”. Walker Air Force Base closed in 1967. The Base closing devastated the community and it look almost twenty-five years for Roswell to recover completely. The Base was indentured to the City of Roswell which used it to expand and recruit aviation and manufacturing industries to the Base. Oil and gas have been a major part of the County economy since the 1930s, while a mild climate and abundant water have made agriculture the County’s economic cornerstone since the 1800s.

Roswell and Chaves County began as an agrarian community with Hispanic farmers and sheep ranchers well over 140 years ago. This long span of time has not changed the overall makeup of the agricultural industry. Sheep and cattle ranching and related segments of the industry still dominate the market. Farming has always been strong in Chaves County and all indicators suggest these trends will not change anytime in the near future, adding more stability to the local economy for years to come. Water is a huge factor in any agrarian community. Fortunately for Roswell and Chaves County, the refillable aquifer beneath the region is capable of supporting agriculture indefinitely.

The future looks bright for Chaves County with our major intersecting U.S. Highways (70/380 and 285) having been upgraded and reconstructed into four-lane divided highways by 2005. Because of these improvements, 7 to 15% of the traffic using Interstates 10 and 40 will feel comfortable and safe using our improved highway system to cut miles and time off of their travels through the region. Roswell, located in the heart and crossroad of Chaves County is the principle secondary market for national retailers. Since all the primary markets are saturated by the national retailers, Roswell is at the top of the list of secondary markets to start receiving national retail chain stores. The influx of national retail stores since 2002 has dramatically boosted our economy and made it possible to purchase all goods and services locally, thereby keeping the money in Chaves County to improve the tax base and quality of life for everyone.

Why Roswell has experienced extensive growth in since 2002:

• National retailers like Sam’s Club, Home Depot and many others have identified Roswell as a prime secondary market.
• Roswell has an abundance of relatively inexpensive commercial property. Improved and upgraded four-lane divided highway system going north, south, east and west.
• Roswell is the agricultural/commercial/industrial/medical hub of southeast New Mexico
• Roswell and Chaves County have an abundant refillable supply of water in the Roswell Basin which can support existing agriculture, new development and population growth for decades to come.
• Roswell and Chaves County have a trainable, willing and capable workforce.
• Roswell and Chaves County have excellent healthcare with two hospitals and numerous clinics along with outstanding facilities, activities, organizations and services for seniors.
• Roswell and Chaves County offer quality education with K-12 private and public schools, the world renowned New Mexico Military Institute and the Eastern New Mexico University – Roswell Campus.

Roswell and Chaves County had their share of challenges with the closure of Walker Air Force Base in 1967, the bust in the oil market in the late 1980’s, closure of major manufacturing plants in 1997 and 2001, causing large numbers of skilled workers to be without meaningful employment. Fortunately, most of those workers didn’t leave the area, and many of them went back to school, taking continuing education and advanced courses at Eastern New Mexico University-Roswell. Today, those skilled workers are better educated and working within our community. Chaves County recorded unemployment at 3.9% in November, 2008, the lowest rate since the 1966.

Chaves County Economic Contributing Factors:

Government: The largest industry employing 4,504 in Federal, State, and local government employees as well as the State employed Roswell Independent School District (RISD) and New Mexico Military Institute (NMMI).

Health Care: The second largest and most stable industry in the area with 2,917 employees from our two hospitals, Eastern New Mexico Medical Center and Roswell Regional Hospital and numerous doctor’s offices and clinics makes this the fastest growing sector of the economy since 2000.

Education: Pre-Kindergarten through High School, with the world famous New Mexico Military Institute (high school through Junior College) and Eastern New Mexico University – Roswell Campus (Undergraduate and graduate degrees), Roswell offers access to high quality educational opportunities.

Commercial: The commercial retail/service sector boon since 2002 is the largest boon since 1980, with more than 54 new commercial retail businesses (many national chains) opening their doors from January 2002 to January 2009. Roswell is over 175 miles from any major metropolitan area, making Roswell the prime shopping location with a consumer base exceeding 300,000 people.

Tourism and Hospitality: Marketing of the famous “Roswell Incident of 1947”, brings daily visitors from around the world; during the annual UFO Festival, tourists from across America and numerous foreign countries visit Roswell. Extensive year round annual events invite tourists to spend their money and several days in our community. Lodgers Tax receipts have increased from $ 349,144 in 1995 to nearly a million dollars annually in 2009.

Agriculture: represents a $ 1.190 billion economic impact on Chaves County, assuming a simple economic multiplier of 2.81.

• Chaves County ranked First in New Mexico in agriculture:
  • Total value of agricultural products sold
  • Total value of livestock and their products
  • Total volume of milk products sold
  • Total sheep and their products
  • Total number of sheep and lambs.
• Chaves County ranked Second in New Mexico in agriculture in:
  • Total quantity of other crops and hay
  • Total number of cattle
  • Total acres used for pecan
  • Total acres used for hay products
• Chaves County ranked Third in New Mexico in agriculture in:
  • Value of all crops
  • Total acres for corn for silage
  • Pecan production
  • Total acres for sorghum for silage
• Nationally, Chaves County ranks 11th for milk and dairy production.

Manufacturing/Industrial: Roswell and Chaves County have rebounded from devastating manufacturing losses in 1997 and 2001. Through efforts by the City of Roswell, Chaves County and the Chaves County Development Foundation, the following industrial development successes have been reported: Millennium Transit Services (bus manufacturing) began operations 2004; New Mexico Manufacturing (industrial tubing) relocated to the Roswell International Air Center in 2005; Verety, LLC in 2008; AAR Corp. (Aircraft maintenance and storage) expansions in 2003 and 2006; Dean Baldwin Painting (aircraft painting) expansion in 2006; MISTIC (homeland security training) recruited in 2003; Frontier Door (garage door manufacturer) recruited in 2008; International Law Enforcement Academy I.L.E.A.(State Department project) $ 5 million expansion in 2005; Leprino Foods (cheese processing) 525 employees, major facility expansions in 2002, 2004 and 2006; and, Select Milk Producers (milk processing) facility improvement in 2004.

Construction: 54 new commercial businesses and 586 new homes were constructed in Roswell since 2002, making this sector a solid economic contributor to the local economy.

Oil and Gas Mining: Chaves County ranks fifth overall in oil and gas production in New Mexico, helping make Roswell a hub for the statewide industry by providing a large portion of the necessary professional, expert services.

Finance (Banking): There are 33 local banks and credit unions and the finance, insurance and real estate sector is Roswell’s ninth largest employer with over 1,200 employees Countywide.

Roswell Housing Market

Year	Roswell Residential Volume	% Increase	Houses Sold
2005	$ 88,531,498	26.83%	888
2006	$ 99,195,548	12.05%	840
2007	$ 99,380,750	00.01%	789
2008	$ 91,379,072	-8.9%	642