The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted today to support the creation of a spaceport taxing district and to ask voters to approve a 1/4 percent gross receipts tax increase to help fund Spaceport America.
On a vote of 4-1, with Oscar Vasquez Butler dissenting, the commission voted to direct staff to begin the process that will end with an election, which will likely be held on April 3.
“The investment that we would make with this tax would repay this community God knows how much. It would be a phenomenal boon,” said Commissioner Kent Evans, who has been involved in trying to bring the commercial space industry to the area for 20 years. “I think it’s going to be a phenomenal enterprise. I think it’s a whole new page in history.”
Three commissioners came to the meeting skeptical about the proposal, but Commissioner Bill McCamley, who made the presentation, was able to convince two, Paul Curry and Dolores Saldaña-Caviness, to vote for it.
McCamley has prepared a presentation that details the history of the space industry in
McCamley pledged to personally give the proposal to every government and many other groups in the county before the commission votes in January or February to formalize the date of the election.
McCamley’s proposal would ask voters to approve the tax, which would generate between $6 million and $6.5 million each year in the county, with 3/4 going to the spaceport. McCamley proposes that the other 1/4 go to the creation of spaceport academies in each of the county’s three school districts, but there was some debate about that point, which commissioners will resolve at a later date.
The tax would amount to 25 cents on every $100 spent in the county, and would expire in 20 years. Essentially, a special taxing district of the state would use the money to repay bonds that are sold to help pay for the initial infrastructure at the spaceport.
McCamley said approval of the tax would do more than provide needed funding.
“It makes clear that the community is committed to this and sends a message to companies who would consider coming here,” he said. “You have the chance to put your money where your mouth is.”
The commission meeting revealed that the tax will be a hard sell among some groups in the county, particularly in the south where fewer see the benefit. During the meeting
“We’re flying off the ground and yet, as (Public Works Director) Jorge Granados said, we can’t even get out of our homes because of washed-out roads,”
And he suggested that, like with the proposed moratorium on growth, the commission create a task force to study the spaceport before it acts.
“I do have a concern that we’re kind of rushing to judgment, and yet you’re not proposing a task force,”
Evans pointed out that the state has had a task force to study and help attract the space industry to
County Attorney John Caldwell said there is no anti-donation issue. Public money is being used to fund creation of a state-owned, state-run spaceport, which will be leased to tenants such as Virgin Galactic. McCamley compared that to airports and seaports, which are commonly funded by tax dollars.
As for the concern that money could be spent better elsewhere, McCamley and Caviness said the spaceport has the potential to create jobs and bring in additional money that the county can spend on improving infrastructure.
“I also think, because of this, it will be a brighter future for us. To some extent, we are encumbered with being visionaries,” Caviness said. “We have to put our visionary hats on and try to see the future.”
McCamley did not play down the risk involved. The worst case scenario, he said, is that “you have a facility that no one uses.”
But, he pointed out, the state has already invested more than half the money needed to build the facility. Legislators and the governor have committed $115 million already, and will be asked to approve another $25 million in January.
The state has put three requirements on the spending of its money: There must be a signed, 20-year lease with Virgin Galactic, the proposed primary tenant of the spaceport; an official estimate must predict the cost of the facility at $225 million or less; and the state must obtain its FAA license.
McCamley proposed, and commission accepted, that the county’s tax increase, if approved by voters, would not go into effect unless the same conditions are met.
“There is a risk. What we’re trying to do is mitigate that risk,” McCamley said. “Everyone thinks risk, risk, risk. Look at the possible benefits.”
Evans agreed.
“If we don’t run with this, we’re making a big, big mistake and I think this county will forever regret that,” Evans said.
McCamley was asked why the county has to come up with additional tax dollars for the project, when some of the $115 million the state has already committed came from county taxpayers.
McCamley compared it to the commuter rail project in
McCamley said Sierra and Otero counties are considering similar tax-increase proposals. The citizens of at least two governments have to approve tax hikes for the spaceport and the creation of a special taxing district to administer the money before it becomes a reality.
McCamley said Virgin Galactic has invested more than $200 million in developing the technology to launch paying customers into space. Though at first, McCamley said, the rich will be the primary users of the spaceport, in the future it will become a hub for people to travel around the world and into space.
But more immediately important, he said, are the economic benefits, and that’s why he’s proposing that 25 percent of the tax money be given to the school districts. McCamley and others envision a continual program – from high school to college and on to internships with space companies – that gives youth the opportunity to stay in the area with good jobs in the space industry.
Curry said the 25 percent that comes back the community should instead be spent on roads that will be strained by increased traffic as a result of the growth of the commercial space industry.
“I feel like the public schools have enough money already,” he said.
That issue will be worked out at a later date. State law requires the county to spend its 25 percent on space-related expenditures, and
Curry also asked that, if local governments are going to give money to the state’s spaceport authority to build and operate the spaceport, the local governments be given seats on the board of the authority. Currently, all authority members are appointed by the governor.
The other commissioners seemed to agree, and McCamley said he would propose that to state officials. It would require a statutory change by the Legislature and governor.
Before the commission voted, Republicans Mack Haley and John Zimmerman, who are both running for seats on the commission, urged its members to approve McCamley’s proposal.
“If we don’t pass it, we’re missing a great chance,” said Zimmerman, who is running against
Haley, who is running against Democrat Karen Perez for the seat currently held by Curry, agreed.
“I think it’s a risk we can’t afford not to take,” he said. “I think you’re doing it the right way in taking it to the voters.”
Perez was not at the meeting.