Referendum Opposed By Some Area Residents

To many residents of Dona Ana County in southeastern New Mexico, it's a tough sell: a proposed increase to the local sales tax, to fund a project many residents of the resolutely agrarian region consider a spaced-out idea. But the fate of Spaceport America rests in their hands.

Proponents of the launch facility -- including state governor and presidential hopeful Bill Richardson -- have big plans for Spaceport America, which boasts upstart space tourism company Virgin Galactic as an anchor tenant. Virgin signed a 20-year lease last year to use the facility, and representatives with the company visited the area recently to scout locations for a future resort for passengers.

In February 2006, the New Mexico legislature approved $110 million to fund development of the spaceport through 2009... and plans are underway to build a 10,000-foot runway and terminal facility next year. As Aero-News reported, the emerging inland spaceport, located about an hour's drive southeast of Truth or Consequences, NM, has already witnessed its first launch: a less-than-successful effort by UP Aerospace to send a small rocket into suborbital space.

A necessary step for future development plans lies in an April 3 referendum... which puts the idea of funding the ambitious project before residents of Dona Ana County, one of three counties the spaceport's land sits in. Voters will be asked to approve a small increase to the local sales tax -- about 25 cents for every $100 spent -- to show the county's commitment to the project.

"New Mexico has an opportunity to be on the ground floor when a major industry of the future is born," Rick Homans, the state's economic development director, told The Washington Post. "Bill Gates first tried to start his software company in Albuquerque, but he couldn't find local backers. When it comes to space, that won't happen again."

Neighboring Sierra and Otero counties are holding off their own referendums, to see what the outcome of the first vote will be. Besides Richardson, the referendum also has the support of most Dona Ana commissioners, as well as several lawmakers in the county seat of Las Cruces. The plan has its share of opponents, too.

"I'm not opposed to the spaceport, but I think it's a terrible idea to tax poor people to pay for something that will be used by the rich," said Oscar Vasquez Butler, who represents an area of the county that is home of several rural colonias with substandard water, sewage, and roads systems. "They tell us the spaceport will bring jobs to our people, but it all sounds very risky. The only thing we know for sure is that people will pay more taxes."

Referendum supporter William McCamley, who heads the group People for Aerospace, disputes the notion the spaceport is merely a plaything for the idle rich... noting one-quarter of the proposed tax would go towards improving math and science classes in area schools, something that benefits all residents.

"The opponents say they want the spaceport, but they don't want the tax," McCamley said. "We're saying that's impossible, and that the huge benefits that would come to the county make it worth the money and the risk."

Despite the large amount of money invested in the project, by the state and other interests, it's anyone's guess how the April 3 vote will turn out.

Business and education interests are all for the Spaceport... while snowbird retirees in Las Cruces are largely against the plan, along with the aforesaid residents of poorer regions of the county. Historical preservationists are also concerned with the site's two-mile distance from the fabled El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the 500-year-old migration and trade route from Mexico to Santa Fe.

Disquietingly, Homans admits the state has no "Plan B" should voters reject the proposed tax increase.

FMI: www.spaceportamerica.com/home.html