Love’s Travel Stops and Country Stores has asked for and will receive some financial breaks from the City of Truth or Consequences, as allowed under the city’s local law that is a copy of the state’s Local Economic Development Act (LEDA).
City Manager Gary Whitehead presented the proposal to the city commissioners at their regular meeting, September 10. It is clear that the city is getting the better end of the bargain, which Whitehead said will be nailed down in the form of a “project contract resolution” at a future meeting. What the city commission approved yesterday was acceptance of Love’s proposal letter as its application for and the provisions of the LEDA package. The city commission made no modifications to Love’s letter/application, which lays out what the city and Love’s will give and take.
Love’s is locating near Walmart, off Cemetery Road near the water tower. That’s the side road that leads to Interstate 25 Exit 79 South.
Whitehead said Love’s asked for different credits, waivers and discounts after realizing how expensive it was going to be to run an electric line to their property, which is estimated at $240,000.
The city will give them a $13,000 discount on its electric crew’s labor and will not charge them for the $30,000 transformer.
Love’s is also having to extend the city’s water main to their site, which it will put in at its own cost, Whitehead estimated at $100,000. It will also improve the road, Whitehead said. The city will therefore not charge them water/sewer impact fees, which he estimated at a maximum of $10,000. There was no estimate on the cost of improving the road.
The city’s sewer must be extended to the site as well, which Whitehead said won’t require a lift station, but can be a “gravity-feed” line extension. No cost estimate was given, but it is probably comparable to the cost of the water line, or maybe more. Whitehead said it has to cross a difficult ditch. Love’s will also pay for extending the city’s sewer infrastructure into new territory. It makes sense that the city will credit Love’s the tap fees it would normally receive if a new sewer customer connects with this line.
The city will not charge Love’s utility fees for the first 18 months of business, which Whitehead estimated at $7,000 to $11,000 a month, which is a maximum waiver of $198,000.
The last part of the deal is confusing. Love’s is to provide “eight full-time jobs (or 400 annual work hours)” for the first three years of operation. But a full-time job is at least 2,000 annual work hours, so this must be a mistake.
If Love’s pulls out before three years has elapsed, all discounts, credits and waivers of fees must be paid back or are void, which is very unlikely, Whitehead said, given the company’s investment.
Besides an improved road and extended water, sewer and electric infrastructure over difficult terrain, the city will benefit from increased property taxes and gross receipts taxes from Love’s ownership and sales, Whitehead said.
City Commissioner Merry Jo Fahl added that it will also solve the problem local ranchers complain about–there is no place in T or C to fuel up that can accommodate their big goose-neck trailers.
Last March a Love’s representative said the company would invest about $20 million in construction, employ 30 full-time and 10 part-time employees and generate about $175,000 a year in local gross receipts taxes for the city:
https://sierracountycitizen.org/loves-travel-stop-coming-to-truth-or-consequences/
When construction might start and end has not been revealed by Love’s at this time.
All of the concessions appear reasonable bc we are all used to billion dollar companies demanding welfare (bribes) so they make bank.
I think the # of jobs it will create is a bit wishy washy. We’ll see how that works out.
Not sure why but I am excited about a 24 hr business.
We will need to be on alert for increased visitors to our town who wouldn’t normally come through here… for good or bad.
I wonder if anyone has done any sort of economic impact study to see the effect of this development on existing businesses and whether or not another business focused on interstate travelers is really necessary.
I bet Love’s did that research before choosing that spot, including projections for population growth. I also bet that it’s proprietary information. I tried to call a Love’s staffer who wrote the LEDA letter, but no email, no phone number for any of the staffers. Not even for the central office–if there is one. Only a central office email provided. I wanted to ask him about the 400 hrs. a year or 8 FT jobs, since he wrote that provision. I gave up.
There certainly is a hole in the market here that presents an opportunity–a need for a gas station that can handle semis and other big vehicles.
As for it’s location between Albuquerque and Las Cruces, I remember a study of I-25 traffic a few years ago (maybe for the NMDOT work at exit 75 and the I-25 business loop?) revealed that this section of I-25 is the least traveled.