{"id":2226,"date":"2007-09-12T08:17:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-12T14:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/sierra-otero-spaceport-tax-hikes-will-be-tough-sells\/"},"modified":"2007-09-12T08:17:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-12T14:17:00","slug":"sierra-otero-spaceport-tax-hikes-will-be-tough-sells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2007\/09\/sierra-otero-spaceport-tax-hikes-will-be-tough-sells\/","title":{"rendered":"Sierra, Otero spaceport tax hikes will be tough sells"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>A vote on Tuesday by the Do\u00f1a Ana County<\/a> Board of Commissioners to delay action on the creation of a spaceport tax district reveals a political reality of the process of securing funding for Spaceport America<\/a>: There\u2019s no certainty tax increases will be approved in Otero and Sierra counties. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

What the failure to approve such tax increases would mean for the spaceport project is unclear, and something state officials have been hesitant to discuss.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

On the agenda at Tuesday\u2019s meeting was a proposal to give county Manager Brian Haines the authority \u201cto take certain preliminary steps\u201d toward formation of a spaceport tax district. Such an entity, in state law, is the organization that would collect tax dollars from counties, sell bonds and issue money to the Spaceport Authority for construction of the facility.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

According to the Las Cruces Sun-News<\/a>, some commissioners objected. The other two counties haven\u2019t even set dates for voters to decide whether to increase their gross receipts taxes to help fund the spaceport. No tax dollars from Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> can be spent until a district is formed, and no district can be formed unless it includes at least two local governments.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

After the tax increase was approved by the narrowest of margins in the more liberal Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> in April, officials from the state and other counties realized the tax increase would be an even harder sell in the more conservative counties.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The money Sierra and Otero would provide is important, but not critical, to the project. The state has provided $124.5 million. The Do\u00f1a Ana tax will provide about $49 million. The other counties, combined, would provide about $8.9 million if they approve the tax increases.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

But bonds can\u2019t be sold by a tax district unless the district is created. Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place>\u2019s money can\u2019t be spent unless that happens.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

So the failure of Sierra and Otero county voters to approve a tax increase could jeopardize the project. A change in state law could still allow the spending of the Do\u00f1a<\/st1:placename> Ana<\/st1:placename> County<\/st1:placename><\/st1:place> money, but legislators have been increasingly unwilling to touch the spaceport project, so there\u2019s no certainty that would happen.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Commissioners decided at Tuesday\u2019s meeting to give Haines authority of negotiate details of the district \u2013 such as how many members from each county would sit on the board \u2013 with other counties, but only once those counties\u2019 commissions set dates for tax-increase elections, the newspaper reported.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

That makes sense. Unless, by setting dates for elections, those counties formally declare their intentions to join a tax district (if voters OK tax increases), with whom would Haines negotiate?<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

The request from the state to approve the resolution on Tuesday \u2013 without the provision requiring that Haines wait until the other counties schedule elections \u2013 was likely designed to further pressure the other counties\u2019 commissions to schedule elections. Haines said Sierra commissioners are talking about April, but Otero commissioners haven\u2019t begun planning for a specific date.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\n

The commission\u2019s decision to wait until the other counties schedule elections was wise. Those counties\u2019 commissioners know better than state officials how to sell a tax increase to their skeptical constituents. Let them decide how to proceed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A vote on Tuesday by the Do\u00f1a Ana County Board of Commissioners to delay action on the creation of a spaceport tax district reveals a political reality of the process of securing funding for Spaceport America: There\u2019s no certainty tax increases will be approved in Otero and Sierra counties. What the failure to approve such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2226\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}