The town is also well known for its public safety record, and currently has the lowest crime rate in the state. Along with all this growth comes a few pitfalls, however. One of the biggest dilemmas facing the city is how to draw retail stores, especially big-box appliance stores, of which the city currently has none. Indeed, much of the city's retail demand is met down the hill in Albuquerque at the Cottonwood Mall and adjacent retail. And since municipalities are generally about 70 percent supported by gross receipts taxes on retail, city planners are seeing the lack of retail as a growing problem.
Businesses subsidize the cost of services to each residential unit.
We must not, as a state, punish growth, but because municipalities in this state are so dependant on gross receipts tax, it's hard to afford growth. Most agree the key to drawing retail is to increase population density, and at 50,000 citizens, Rio Rancho is about to reach the spot where most retail companies start to take notice. But because the city has developed in a nodal pattern, with pockets of growth surrounded by pockets that haven't been developed, more planning and infill development may be necessary before a lot of retailers decide to come. Rio Rancho is about 47 square miles within the city limits. We have pockets where we have maybe 2,000 homes, and they might be five miles from anything else.