HP to cut 200 jobs in Rio Rancho

RIO RANCHO, N.M. (KRQE) - A New Mexico business was greeted with tax breaks and news conferences touting how many well-paying jobs they were bringing with them.
    
Now, Hewlett Packard is doing what so many other big companies have done after coming to New Mexico amid fanfare, they are letting workers go.
    
When HP announced it was coming to Rio rancho five years ago, the computer company said it would eventually have 1,800 workers here.
 
However, instead of adding jobs HP is going backwards.
    
Officials say the Silicon Valley-based giant is getting rid of 200 jobs over the course of the next 10 months.
    
Those jobs pay about $50,000 a year.
    
They're based out at the sprawling technical and customer support center built just for HP with millions in tax breaks from the state and Rio Rancho.
    
The cuts means by November there will only be 660 workers at the facility.
    
HP promised to have almost 1,400 workers here by this year.

“I don't think HP is intentionally breaking their word or doing anything they didn't want to commit to. But I think that the economic times are such that we're having to make adjustments, everyone is,” Mayor Tom Swisstack said.

Three years ago then Governor Bill Richardson called HP's move to Rio Rancho, the biggest catch for the state in his time in office.
    
The state granted HPmore than $20-million in tax breaks and incentives to lure them here.
    
The city of Rio Rancho gave HP more than $2 million in incentives and only charged the company $1 a year in rent.
   
Mayor Swisstack says HP could be hit with some penalties, but those will be in the range of tens of thousands of dollars and not in the millions.
    
Of course Hewlett Packard’s been hit by the shift in tech tastes as people move away from spending on PC's and printers in favor of cell phones and tablets.
    
Last year Hewlett Packard announced it was laying off 29,000 workers worldwide, almost 10 percent of its workforce.
    
At least 50 people lost their jobs in Rio Rancho.