Archuleta Economic Development Forum

Archuleta County & Town of Pagosa Springs Waive Building Fees and Provides Rebates

UPDATED…On July 7th, the Archuleta County BoCC formally adopted a two-year plan to provide incentives for new construction with development fee waivers and sales tax rebates. In addition, the Town Council of Pagosa Springs also passed the first reading of their ordinance waving building permit and impact fees. They are expected to approve a second reading at their August 4th meeting.

This is a result of a cooperative effort between the Town of Pagosa Springs, Archuleta County and the Archuleta Economic Development Association (AEDA).

Details of the two-year program include:

• 100 % Development Fee Waivers: For any development activity for which an application is made on or after July 1, 2009, and for which construction begins on or after July 1, 2009 and is completed in calendar year 2009, 100% of the development fees will be waived.

• 50 % Development Fee Waivers: For any development activity for which an application is made on or after July 1, 2009, and for which construction begins after July 1, 2009 and is completed in calendar year 2010, 50% of the development fees will be waived.

• 25% Sales Tax Rebate for Locally Purchased Construction and Building Materials: For any development activity for which an application is made on or after July 1, 2009, and for which construction begins after July 1, 2009 and is completed in calendar year 2009 or 2010, 25% of the sales tax received will be rebated for construction and building materials used in the development activity, provided the applicant can satisfactorily demonstrate that the project related construction and building materials were purchased within Archuleta County or Pagosa Springs and subject to the respective sales tax. For any qualifying development activity, the rebate of sales tax authorized shall be in addition to any waiver of development fees allowed.

• 25% Sales Tax Rebate for Use of Local Labor: For any development activity for which an application is made on or after July 1, 2009, and for which construction begins after July 1, 2009 and is completed in calendar year 2009 or 2010, 25% of the sales tax received for construction and building materials used in the development activity will be rebated provided the applicant can satisfactorily demonstrate to the County or Town that not less than 50% of the labor costs associated were paid to residents of Archuleta County and/or the Town of Pagosa Springs..

The final piece of the resolution suggested that PAWSD reduce by 50% the water meter fee, the water resource fee, capital investment fee, and sewer fee. The PAWSD Board of Directors rejected this proposal at their meeting on July 14th.

AEDA Vision Featured in Four Corners Business Journal

Four Corners Business Journal (Farmington, NM)

June 29, 2009

Archuleta County is diversifying economy by supporting Lone Eagle Initiative’ By Christine Rasmussen Colorado correspondent

PAGOSA SPRINGS — The Archuleta Economic Development Association is headed toward a new direction with its new copy platform: “Here in Archuleta County, Colorado, we don’t do ties, heels, or traffic. We do boots, soaks, and trails. Surrounded by 3 million acres of National Forest, we work hard in our businesses, but we play hard in our wilderness.”

AEDA Executive Director Bart Mitchell said the new copy platform is part of a concerted effort to diversify the area’s economy. “It’s called the Lone Eagle Initiative,’” Mitchell said. “We’ve spent the last year and a half doing a targeted industry study, trying to figure out how to diversify the economy here; we are heavily dependent on tourism, real estate and construction.”

According to Mitchell, the AEDA’s study profiled 2,755 companies in the county and found that 2,184 — or 79 percent — are sole proprietors with zero employees. The remaining 21 percent have some form of employment.

“When you look at the industries here, we have 232 different industries,” Mitchell explained. “There is no clustering and a lot of sole proprietors, so the traditional economic-development strategies don’t work.

“So we went back and looked at assets this community has — what makes sense from trying to grow direct-base jobs. The average income of direct-base jobs is twice that of typical employment in the community.”

The targeted industry study found that a lot of companies in Archuleta are direct-base and cover many types of business. “Many companies that are direct-base have 40 to 50 percent of revenue coming in from outside the county and zero employees,” Mitchell said. “We’ve found that other communities similar to ours in size and make-up have the same situation: A lot of folks who are stumbled upon started their own company because there are no jobs and they have the ability to do their own thing.

“I’m here because I wanted that quality of life and was tired of being away from home doing the corporate thing.”

Mitchell spent 17 years working for General Electric doing acquisitions and integrations. Besides being director of the AEDA since July of 2005, he runs a Web-site design and business-consulting company with his wife.

Taking care of the eagles

Once those like Mitchell arrive in the county, however, keeping them here is critical. The AEDA is planning a forum for the identified “lone eagles” some time this summer or early fall.

“We’re trying to bring these guys together to identify their needs so they can grow their company and grow employment,” Mitchell said. “We also want to get them together to network, cross-sell.

“At the same time during the forum, we’ll present some quantitative and qualitative data. Dr. Simon Walls (business professor at Fort Lewis College) is doing the marketing piece: Why here, why Archuleta?”

The idea is to take that data set and plug it into a direct-marketing effort toward those in urban areas who may want to relocate, Mitchell said. “Our main focus is business retention and expansion with companies here, though, to create a pro-business environment. Through this Lone Eagle Forum, we hope to educate the town and county on what they (business owners) need — so we can help those that want to grow.”

A long process

Although the targeted industry study has been a long process — since there was no such similar data before, which required Mitchell, along with the help of FLC’s Small Business Development Center Director Joe Keck, to call and interview all of them — it has been worth it.

“With the lone eagles I’ve identified, the average salary is $42,491,” said Mitchell. “The average per-capita income in Archuleta County is $21,145 — that’s 140-percent (more). It’s a matter of switching our thinking of industry clusters to a more grass-roots efforts — rolling up our sleeves and working with those who want to grow.”

Primary-growth companies in Archuleta County include Parelli Natural Horsemanship, Queen Bee organic skin-care products, and Autumn Teneyl clothing. Other notables include BossTin, maker of non-toxic fishing weights; Growing Spaces, manufacturer of growing domes; Alpine Components, an aircraft-parts manufacturer; Skywerx, a wireless Internet service provider; and Quest Aerospace, seller of high-end rocket models.

“It’s amazing: As I go about identifying these guys, some are friends who never mentioned they have this company that’s doing six-figure sales outside of Archuleta,” said Mitchell. “Once the momentum gets going, I think we’re going to see some unique results from all of this.”

As soon as a date is set for the Long Eagle Forum, it will be posted under “Upcoming Events” at www.aedaed.org

Lone Eagles and High Fliers in Archuleta County

In 2008, AEDA completed a Targeted Industry study to identify key industries to focus on expanding and attracting to Archuleta County. The AEDA Targeted Industry Committee, which encompassed community leaders and AEDA Board Members, spent 18 months going through our local industry data. In the end, they identified 7 key industries that would help diversify and move our economy forward, as well as provide jobs that were much higher in salary than our current average. Another key finding was that many of these companies fit a certain profile known as Lone Eagles and High Fliers.

What exactly is a “Lone Eagle”? It is a sole proprietor business who derives the majority of their revenue from outside the County. They have 0 employees, and are located in rural areas for quality-of-life reasons. They are typically founded by highly educated people who have “niche” market business concepts that pay off in relatively high sales per worker. In Archuleta County, these are typically companies that are high tech in nature,  are in light manufacturing, or provide professional services.

What is a High Flier? A High Flier is a just like a Lone Eagle with the exception that they have 1-20 employees, and those employees are paid at an average salary of at least 110% higher than the County’s current per capita income.

Why is this important? The AEDA assists ALL business owners in the County (retail, services, industrial, etc…) by providing business advocacy, confidential mentoring services, business classes and much more. If we focus more on Lone Eagles and High Fliers, these companies will bring NEW money from the outside into the local economy, which will grow and enable all the other facets of our economy as jobs are created. Because a Lone Eagle’s market is much larger, they have the capability of expanding much faster than a business with just a local market.

This allows the Lone Eagle (if provided with the right business environment) to expand quickly and hire employees. It is then that the Lone Eagle moves to being called a High Flier. What’s unique is that we find the salaries that a High Flier company provides in Archuleta County is 140% higher than the average wage, giving our community the ability to have a livable wage. If we focus on this category of business owner, and then try to attract, create locally and/or expand these types of businesses that are in the key industries we feel can grow here, then you’ve got the ability help your community have a great quality of life. And that is exactly what the AEDA is in place to do. What are those key industries? See below.

Targeted Industries – Through this year and a half study, the AEDA and its community volunteers found 7 key industries that should be focused on to help diversify our economy, and provide livable wages for our community:

1. Aviation – includes aircraft maintenance and repair, upgrade/retrofit, sub-assembly, commuter charter services, and other aircraft services. Our airport is an incredible asset to this community, and will continue to be an even greater asset as we move forward with growing this important industry in Archuleta County.
2. Renewable Energy – Nothing could be more important to diversify our economy than this industry. Opportunity abounds in our area for solar, bio-fuels, and geothermal applications.
3. Back Office Operations - Businesses that do customer service related back-office activities such as call centers, etc.
4. Light Manufacturing - Includes all forms of manufacturing small goods that our local transportation system can handle efficiently.
5. Professional Services - these are businesses such as consultants, that provide a service. Marketing services, business services, etc.
6. Health & Wellness - Businesses that would support the Pagosa Mountain Hospital, provide medical services, organic food products, homeopathic or nutritional products and services, etc.
7. High Tech/Information Technology - companies that produce software, internet/ecommerce related, R&D, etc.

These business sectors have already seen job growth in Archuleta County. This Forum will be featuring a variety of local Lone Eagles/High Fliers over the coming months. Stay tuned!

If you are interested in getting involved in this process, please contact AEDA!

Entrepreneurship’s evolution

According to a recent article in ColoradoBiz Magazine By Thomas Frey and Raymond Alvarez…

“Over 80 percent of all new startups will be created by a lifestyle entrepreneur – people who’ve gone into business to take more control over their own lives and to build a lifestyle that suits them.”

The article goes on to discuss the “Empire of One” Business Model, which is what AEDA calls “Lone Eagles”:

“An Empire of One business is a one-person operation (though, sometimes a married couple) with far reaching spheres of influence. Typically the Empire business outsources most of its functions: Information products are marketed and sold online, coaching and consulting operations and products are manufactured in China or India and then sent to a distribution center in the U.S., with customers in the U.K. and Brazil. Manufacturing, marketing, bookkeeping, accounting, legal needs and operations are all outsourced to other businesses around the world.

In addition to product-based businesses, other Empire models will include coaching and consulting businesses, freelancers, Internet-based businesses, solo practitioners and many more.

These are not novel concepts. The difference is mostly size. Street savvy may have once dictated asking often and asking for a lot of investment money. But this advice fit a different time.

Investors and government should take another look at the one-person operation that has been able to take advantage of many new tools. With the aid of software and the Internet, individuals are well equipped to serve off-shore markets and profit, with time for family, too. An acumen for leveraging talent, moving products across borders, as well as maintaining control of a vast and virtual empire will be the important measures of this group. The Empire of One business model, too, is attracting former corporate executives, who possess these skills and wish to extricate themselves from dealing with employees.

Over 80 percent of all new startups will be created by what I am calling a lifestyle entrepreneur — people who’ve gone into business to take more control over their own lives and to build a lifestyle that suits them…

Ironically, the driving force behind this aspect of entrepreneurship will not be money. Health and happiness have replaced wealth as the new mantra of the mid-life professional. Fifty-seven percent of the work force now insists they will not take on extra stress associated with greater responsibility even if it means more money. But we can wager none will turn down a bigger income that comes with greater freedom and quality time.”

Exerpts from this article are from Colorado Biz Magazine. To read the full article, click here.