There is widespread agreement that Spaceport America should be built; what is contentious is the proposal to raise the gross receipts tax in three counties to help fund it.
This is the first in a series of guest columns I will run before the April 3 election on whether to raise the gross receipts tax in Doña Ana County to help fund the spaceport. I will run one in support of the tax increase, followed by one in opposition, back and forth, and plan to publish a roughly equal number on each side.
Public officials and other readers are invited to participate in this debate. To submit a guest column for publication, e-mail me at heath@haussamen.com. Baseless personal attacks will not be published. I want to focus on the issues.
By Kent Evans
On April 3, the voters of Doña Ana County will make a decision about whether to invest in Spaceport America with public funds, and the ramifications of this decision cannot be overstated. To see what the future holds, look back 60 years.
In 1947, the notion of space travel was dismissed by most people as a flight of fancy, an expensive pipe dream unworthy of public investment. Even so, the U.S. government established a remote and isolated facility to test the emerging technology, and they named it White Sands Missile Range. Six decades later, WSMR is a crown jewel in the nation’s space and defense programs. Conservative estimates show that its continued operation pumps about $1.2 million a day – $438 million annually – into the local economy.
In 2007, Spaceport America offers Doña Ana County a similar promise to that which was contemplated in 1947, and the skeptics of today offer eerily similar criticism of its prospects for success. History shows they are wrong.
With 44 years of experience in the aerospace industry, I feel uniquely qualified to endorse the wise investment of public funds for infrastructure development at Spaceport America north of Las Cruces. I saw similar investment in southern Florida at the dawn of the Apollo program, and we all know the epic return on that investment.
When WSMR was established, I was a six-year-old boy with bright dreams about what the future might hold. For every six-year-old living in Doña Ana County today, I urge you to vote “yes” on April 3. Spaceport America will be a fundamental part of that child’s future. You can count on it.
Evans is the Doña Ana County District 4 commissioner.
On April 3, the voters of