By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
County Manager Wayne Johnson delivered Sandoval County’s first formal State of the County address since 2020 Wednesday, using a “Six Years of Progress” slide deck to argue the county is “stronger, safer” than in July 2020 — and pitching the report itself as a new annual tradition.
Johnson said his report covers only departments under commission and county-manager control, not the independently elected sheriff, clerk or treasurer’s offices, which he said have also improved.
THE MONEY
The county’s net position — assets minus what it owes — grew from $67.9 million to $186.7 million between mid-2020 and mid-2025, a 175% jump, according to Johnson’s presentation. Cash and investments nearly doubled, from $80 million to about $146 million. Property tax collections rose from $30.3 million to $43.6 million and gross receipts tax from $15.3 million to $26 million (it peaked at $28.9 million in fiscal 2024). The county has posted clean audits, with no material weaknesses, for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
PEOPLE AND JOBS
The county’s population grew from about 149,000 to nearly 159,600, roughly 7% — faster than the state average, Johnson’s presentation says. Intel New Mexico added 734 jobs since a 2021 bond-backed expansion, growing from 1,874 to 2,608 employees; the county’s presentation notes Intel employment actually peaked at 3,288 in late 2024, under a $16 billion industrial revenue bond with about $4 billion still available. The Project Ranger/Castelion defense manufacturing campus is expected to add 300-plus more high-wage jobs. On affordable housing, the county says two projects are complete, one is advancing and two more developers are in talks — though not yet at the scale the county’s 2023 strategic plan calls for.
FACILITIES AND EMERGENCY SERVICES
The Cuba Area Fire Station is complete and operating as the first paid advanced-life-support post in the northwest county, and the Zia station, opened in 2020, now anchors a hybrid career-volunteer system across eight fire districts. The county’s new 911 center — the Public Safety Emergency Communications Center — went live July 1, 2025; the county is still hiring an assistant director for it. The Animal Resource Center, on land purchased in 2022, is under construction and expected to open in early 2027. The detention center finished a multi-year renovation and regained state accreditation in 2024.
LOOKING AHEAD
The county’s presentation lists a full rewrite of the county’s zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan among its 2027 priorities, along with finishing the Animal Resource Center and judicial complex, moving affordable housing from “interest to construction,” and holding the fiscal line against swings in gross receipts tax.
Commissioners praised the presentation and asked Johnson to make it an annual event.
BY THE NUMBERS
- $67.9M → $186.7M: county net position, 2020-2025 (+175%)
- 80M→~146M: cash and investments
- ~149,000 → ~159,600: population (~7% growth)
- +734: Intel jobs since 2021 (peaked at +1,414 in late 2024)
- 300+: jobs planned at Project Ranger/Castelion