Business View Civil and Municipal l December 2022

47 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 “We do a lot of maintenance out of the Roswell Air Center, and they are trying to do what I would call a public-private partnership with the city going to build up the hanger which will cost about $20 million to accommodate more air service,” Forte describes. “At the end of the day, if we get that set up, that’s jobs in our small communities and Roswell is a city of about 50,000, so once we can do more maintenance, hopefully, the industry will see that.” The New Mexico Municipal League hopes that out of the $2.4 billion capital outlay for the state, a reasonable portion will be allocated to much-needed airport improvement projects. “In Farmington, we would be able to have a commuter air service if they have access to funds for airport expansion. In Gallup, we would be able to get a terminal and Roswell will be able to benefit from maintenance funding.” Forte anticipates that if the funds are allocated for the airport’s needs across the state then general air traffic will upward trend as well, which will ultimately benefit the state and the communities linked with each of the regional airports. “We will see some serious growth here. Down in the southeast part of the state, I would say that is where we see the most commuter air NEW MEX I CO MUNI C I PAL LEAGUE (NMML )