Space Tourism … and Much More
Plans to pave a road that would provide more direct access to Spaceport America from Las Cruces have hit a snag over design and budget issues.
Engineers in Doña Ana County did a design for the project, which involves paving 23.7 miles of dirt road between the village of Hatch and the spaceport. However, officials in Sierra County — where 16.7 miles of the paving would be done — don’t like the plan because they believe the road would be too expensive to maintain once paved.
An artist's conception of a Virgin Galactic flight above Spaceport America in New Mexico
Spaceport tax not adding up for area schools
Las Cruces Sun-News
Educational dollars from a spaceport sales tax in Doña Ana County have yet to actually reach schools because of a dispute between county commissioners and school officials about how the money should be spent.
Continue reading ‘Spaceport America Tax Money Not Reaching Schools’
Spaceport tax funds reserved for public schools
Las Cruces Sun-News
After a three-hour discussion about the fate of educational dollars that will come from a Doña Ana County spaceport tax, county commissioners decided Tuesday the money will go directly to the area’s three school districts.
Continue reading ‘Spaceport America Tax Revenues Reserved for Local School Districts’
County commission to pick spaceport tax board members, others
Las Cruces Sun-News
Doña Ana County commissioners on Tuesday will appoint members to a board that will oversee revenue from a county spaceport tax.
Commissioners also will appoint representatives to a spectrum of other local boards. The commission will pick two members to serve with Sierra County officials on the board of the spaceport district. The district will oversee the channeling of spaceport tax dollars to Spaceport America for its construction.
Voters in Sierra County overwhelmingly approved an increase in the sales tax to help fund Spaceport America, New Mexico’s ambitious effort to build a gateway to the stars.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that 65 percent of voters approved the .25 cent tax increase, a wider margin than some had predicted. The 42 percent turnout was the highest ever for a special election.
“I’m feeling good,” New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Steve Landeene said. “It’s been an emotional day and obviously the outcome is a very positive emotion.”
The approval means that a taxation district can be formally established with Dona Ana County, whose residents narrowly approved the tax increase last year. Voters in neighboring Otera County will go to the polls in November.
New Mexico hopes the spaceport will be used for a variety of purposes, most prominently to send tourists on suborbital flights. The state is in negotiations with London-based Virgin Galactic to be an anchor tenant.
The small, quiet town of Truth or Consequences, NM – best known for its thriving arts community and its access to hot springs and the state’s largest lake – has been thrust into the center of a debate over our future in space.
On Tuesday, voters in this community of 7,000 will help decide the fate of Spaceport America, New Mexico’s ambitious effort to build a gateway to the heavens. Residents in T or C and throughout Sierra County will vote on a .25 cent increase in the gross receipts tax to help fund the $198 million facility in the southern part of the county. A “yes” vote is crucial to forming a tax district with neighboring Doña Ana and Otera counties.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reports that the vote could go either way. A pro-spaceport tax group, People for Aerospace, has been campaigning heavily throughout Sierra County, promoting the project’s economic benefits. However, other residents have opposed the tax increase, placing anti-tax signs on T or C streets and staging a rally over the weekend.
Continue reading ‘Quiet NM Town Divided on Eve of Crucial Spaceport Vote’
Only days before a crucial public vote on funding Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic has dangled the offer of one free spaceflight per year if residents approve a tax increase to help fund the spaceport.
The Las Cruces Sun-Times, quoting an Albuquerque Journal story, reports that Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn made the offer on Tuesday during a public forum in Truth or Consequences. The London-based company is expected to be an anchor tenant at the desert facility.
Voters in T or C and throughout Sierra County will go to the polls on Tuesday to vote on a .25 cent increase in the gross receipts tax. Approval is required to form a three-county tax district with Doña Ana and Otera counties.
Only one resident in the three counties would be able to go on a suborbital flight per year. The flights are being retailed at $200,000 each.
The vote in Sierra County is expected to be close, as was the one last year in Doña Ana County. (Otera residents have yet to vote.) The sprawling, sparsely populated county has about 12,600 residents, one in five of whom live below the poverty line. More than 28 percent of residents are 65 years or older. And Sierra County’s median household income in 2004 was only $23,821, less than two-thirds of New Mexico’s $37,838 median income.
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