Senator Eliot Shapleigh - El Paso, Texas

EL PASO -- Jobs, roads, schools and other quality-of-life issues will be more severely impacted than originally expected as soldiers move into El Paso and help boost the county's population within an inch of the 1 million mark by 2025.

Preliminary figures from a U.S. Department of Defense-funded study show that before the announcement that more than 37,000 soldiers would come to Fort Bliss by 2012, the population of El Paso was expected to peak at 815,600 people.

The updated figure now shows the county's population as high as 994,200 by 2012.

"I can't wait for us to hit 1 million. I think it will give us the respect we deserve," native El Pasoan Claudia Solis said. "I just hope we are ready for all the new people. I don't want us to be in trouble."

The city is using the information in the report, officially known as the Regional Growth Impact Assessment, to update its growth plan and plan out the way the city will look in time for the population boom.

Starting this week, the city will have several public meetings to share the information in the report and ask for input on how best to tackle the challenges associated with rapid growth.

City planners and developers will take the information and figure out how best to deal with such issues as infrastructure, job creation and school placement.

Matthew McElroy, the city's deputy director for planning, said a new growth plan that includes the updated figures from Fort Bliss should be ready in about a year.

"We were overdue for a growth plan anyway, because the one we have was approved in 1999 using figures from the 1990 census," he said. "It was time for us to start a new one, and this information will be invaluable in determining how we go about meeting the needs of the community."

One of the most telling pieces of information the new study reveals is the shift in the city's employment landscape.

More than 46,000 people are employed in retail in El Paso, according to figures from the Institute for Policy and Economic Development at UTEP. That's the largest industry in the city.

But figures from the impact assessment report show that the health industry will have the highest job growth rate in the next 15 years, with more than 10,000 new jobs created by 2025.

The study also showed that mid-skill level positions, like paralegals, medical assistants, home health aides, as well as high-skill level positions, like elementary school teachers and computer programmers, will be in high demand.

"It's this type of information that will require partnerships with the stakeholders in the city," McElroy said. "We need to figure out who needs to do what and how we can help each other out to make things happen."

Besides partnerships with private and public entities that will help the city secure jobs and employees, Mc Elroy said partnerships need to be developed with school districts, Fort Bliss and state and federal lawmakers.

City officials have already started working with school districts to share information about growth patterns and developing plans for accurate school placement.

Post officials said the city has done a good job of sharing information with them about plans for growth, and they plan to continue working with the city to make sure the transition for soldiers is a smooth one as they come into El Paso.

"We can say that the city has done a wonderful job in making sure our troops will be taken care of when they come," said Jean Offutt, a spokeswoman for Fort Bliss. "We are confident that all of our needs will be met."

One area in which city and state officials said El Paso is ahead of schedule is streets.

McElroy said last year the state approved $1 billion for the improvement and construction of roads in the El Paso region.

"That's one thing we don't have to worry about," he said.