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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Spaceport District Advances

By Rene Romo
Journal Staff Writer
       LAS CRUCES — The Doña Ana County Commission on Tuesday approved by a 3-2 vote an agreement establishing a regional spaceport district with Sierra County.
    Under the agreement already approved by Sierra County, each county will place two representatives on the spaceport district board, which will oversee the expenditure of tax dollars collected in support of the $200 million project's construction costs.
    Spaceport boosters hope Otero County voters approve a gross receipts tax increase in November and join Sierra and Doña Ana county taxpayers in generating $58 million to supplement state appropriations to build the spaceport at Upham, 45 miles north of Las Cruces in southern Sierra County. If Otero County voters approve a gross receipts tax increase, that county will also get two seats on the spaceport district board.
    Under the agreement, two representatives of state government can be appointed to the board by Gov. Bill Richardson at a later date, which was not specified.
    In early talks with Sierra and Doña Ana county officials, New Mexico Spaceport Authority representatives wanted the state to have three seats on the board, with one seat for each county that passed the spaceport tax.
    Commissioners Karen Perez and Oscar Vasquez Butler voted against the agreement Tuesday, saying there are too many questions clouding the issue.
    In particular, Perez and Butler questioned whether the Spaceport Authority, which is overseeing the spaceport project, will be able to fulfill three goals by the end of 2008 that the Doña Ana County Commission established as conditions for use of taxpayer-generated funds.
    The three conditions, approved by the commission in March 2007, were:
    n The state must obtain a Federal Aviation Administration license for spaceport launches.
    n British mogul Richard Branson's company, Virgin Galactic, must sign a lease with Spaceport America.
    n The cost of the spaceport's initial phase of construction must not exceed $225 million.
    Under questioning by Perez, County Attorney John Caldwell acknowledged that the 2007 resolution is essentially "toothless," in Perez's words, and not binding.
    But Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene told commissioners the state was making progress in achieving the three conditions by the end of 2008.
    Las Cruces lawyer Daniel James said he does not believe state law allows the counties passing the spaceport tax to use a quarter of the proceeds for space-related science and math education, as county officials have advertised.
    Caldwell and Landeene both said they believed the counties may do so under the law, but Caldwell said a judge would have the final say on that question if a lawsuit is ever filed.