Pueblo firm touted by Ritter gets cold shoulder from state

Face the State Staff Report

In the past week, Gov. Bill Ritter has traveled across the state for ribbon cutting ceremonies and press conferences touting clean energy companies creating jobs in Colorado. But during a stop in Pueblo to applaud the efforts of The Water Company, he neglected to mention that his Office of Economic Development ignored the company's request for funding, meaning the firm received no state support for its expansion.

Ritter traveled to Pueblo Monday, applauding The Water Company's expansion of his "new energy economy." The Water Company is a small business with under 30 employees that has developed and patented break-through technology in clean water purification.

"The Water Company is part of a clean-tech industry of the future," Ritter said in a Monday press release. "The new jobs and the expansion being announced today are another example of how we are leading Colorado forward by re-positioning and re-tooling Colorado's economy for long-term sustainable growth."

Hoover said that once he realized they "had something big", the company began looking for funding to manufacture its new technology, an expansion that is expected to add 130 jobs to the company by 2012.

"We came up short from the state of Colorado," said Rick Hoover, the company's president. "We were disappointed there was no follow-up from the state. Gov. Ritter has been here twice and is very intrigued, but when we met with the economic development office, we got no response."

After unsuccessfully seeking funding from the state's Office of Economic Development, the Water Company turned to the Pueblo Economic Development Corporation.

PEDCO is a non-profit that serves as a liaison between Pueblo's businesses community and the city with a focus on local job creation and sustainability. In 1984, Pueblo voters approved a one mill sales tax increase devoted to economic development, which has been renewed every five years since then. The money ultimately goes to PEDCO, which distributes funding to companies seeking development assistance.

Through that subsidy, The Water Company was granted the deed to a 50,000 square foot building shell for expansion. As long as the company meets its contractual obligation to add 130 jobs to Pueblo by 2012, the deed of trust is released to it unencumbered.

"Governor Ritter wants to be a very green Governor and he thinks that's important to Colorado's image," said Hoover. "We fit very well into that and we complement that. But, we made a deliberate attempt to meet with the economic development office, and got nothing."

Ritter's Office of Economic Development did not return requests for comment.