The Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners voted today to delay collection of the spaceport tax until at least July because no other government has joined the county in creating a regional spaceport district that is required before the money can be spent.
The decision was unanimous to delay collection of the tax, which was originally scheduled to begin on Jan. 1. Commissioners in Sierra and Otero counties have said they plan to schedule elections on possible gross receipts tax increases to help fund Spaceport America, but neither has done it.
Approval of the tax in either county would mean the district is created and money that’s collected in all counties where the tax has been approved can be spent. The 1/4 of 1 percent tax was approved by voters in
The motion to delay the tax was made by Commissioner Bill McCamley, who pushed hard for its approval but said at today’s meeting that he promised voters at the time that the funding effort would be regional.
“I’m going to vote for this because I made that promise,” he said, adding that he understands
The move delays not only collection of the money that will help fund the spaceport but also the portion – 25 percent – that will be used for education related to the commercial space industry in Doña Ana County.