{"id":8519,"date":"2016-04-24T18:00:04","date_gmt":"2016-04-25T00:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/?p=8519"},"modified":"2016-06-01T10:19:27","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T16:19:27","slug":"collaborative-model-of-economic-development-draws-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/articles\/investment-in-new-mexico\/collaborative-model-of-economic-development-draws-interest\/","title":{"rendered":"Collaborative Model of Economic Development Draws Interest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"By<\/a>

By Finance New Mexico<\/p><\/div>\n

As a legislator for the 9th District \u2014 the poorest county in one of America\u2019s poorest states \u2014 Patty Lundstrom spends a lot of time educating fellow lawmakers about how their actions affect economic development at the community level. She understands these impacts firsthand, because Lundstrom\u2019s primary job is to build the economy of Gallup and McKinley County as executive director of the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation.<\/p>\n

Businesses and governments often operate in isolation, unmindful of how their operations or policies affect others, Lundstrom said in an interview with Finance New Mexico, and this can put them at cross purposes. In McKinley County, she broke with that tradition by introducing an economic development model founded on collaboration and peer support.<\/p>\n

The success of that initiative is attracting attention all over New Mexico, as communities struggle to provide public services with shrinking tax revenues and diminishing state assistance.<\/p>\n

Roundtable of Stakeholders<\/strong><\/p>\n

Necessity was the mother of Lundstrom\u2019s invention: With an annual budget of $325,000, she realized her organization needed to harness the collective brainpower of her community\u2019s public-private leaders.<\/p>\n

Lundstrom recruited the CEOs of every local economic development organization, government agency and key economic base industries to participate in a results-oriented group she named the Gallup Executive Director\u2019s Alliance. GEDA meets once a month to generate and discuss ideas for economic development and work in concert on economic development opportunities, such as targeting a specific industry for growth or a business that might find the area compatible for its needs.<\/p>\n

And the work is paying off. GEDA members believe the area\u2019s proximity to railroad networks and transnational commerce make it ideal for a commercial transportation hub, and that\u2019s an idea the group is pursuing. GEDA also persuaded local governments that it wasn\u2019t in the interest of Gallup or McKinley County to raise taxes to cover a loss in state \u201chold harmless\u201d assistance that followed repeal of the food tax in 2004. If both the city and county enact their allowed 3\/8 percent increases in gross receipts taxes (GRT), businesses and consumers in Gallup would have the highest GRT in the state: 9.0625 percent.<\/p>\n

GRT increases can make businesses less competitive, drive commerce out of an area and halt economic development, Lundstrom told those gathered in Santa Fe for an Economic Roundtable meeting called \u201cThe True Cost of Debt\u201d as the 2016 Legislature convened. It was one of the two educational forums that the Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation hosts every year for the public and for economic development agencies.<\/p>\n

An Idea Worth Imitating<\/strong><\/p>\n

Her peers in other communities are expressing interest in establishing their own roundtables that solicit community-wide engagement and commitment, Lundstrom said. \u201cEvery community in the state can do this. We\u2019re the poorest county in the poorest state; all we have is each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCollaboration makes it easier in the long run than going on your own,\u201d she added. Building collaborative relationships \u201cis a foundational piece to have in place for successful economic development. It doesn\u2019t happen in silos.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Greater Gallup Economic Development Corporation, visit gallupedc.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Download 447_Collaborative Model of Economic Development Draws Interest<\/a> PDF<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a legislator for the 9th District \u2014 the poorest county in one of America\u2019s poorest states \u2014 Patty Lundstrom spends a lot of time educating fellow lawmakers about how their actions affect economic development at the community level. She … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8519"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8519"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8594,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8519\/revisions\/8594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/financenewmexico.org\/sandbox\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}