Managers of Spaceport America, the state-owned launch facility opened six years ago in the Southern New Mexico desert, will ask to more than double its share of the state’s general fund next year.
While a $1 million appropriation, up from $375,900 this year, would still amount to a small portion of state spending, agency officials, who for years have talked about working toward financial self-sufficiency, acknowledge the budget request could be a big ask from legislators who expected the facility would be sending people into space by now. And it comes after the state has made painful budgets cuts across government and nearly emptied reserves.
At a cost of nearly $220 million, the taxpayer-financed Spaceport America opened in 2011 near White Sands Missile Range with plans to serve as the launch site for Virgin Galactic spaceflights.
So far, no one has flown into space from the facility, and critics have come to regard it as a boondoggle.
But Spaceport America has been the launch site for commercial rockets, and Virgin Galactic is ramping up operations in anticipation of starting regular flights in coming years.
Meanwhile, the commercial spaceflight industry has changed since the facility opened.
NASA’s shuttle program is over, the federal government is encouraging private companies to take on a bigger role in the future of space exploration, and flying wealthy tourists on high-priced adventures — as Virgin Galactic plans — has become less of a priority.
Spaceport America CEO Dan Hicks has argued that this puts New Mexico in a position to compete for business in a growing commercial spaceflight industry, if the facility can keep up with the sector’s needs.
“We have an opportunity to grow an economic engine here in the state,” Hicks told the spaceport’s board during a meeting Thursday in Las Cruces.
Hicks said additional money from the state’s general fund would help the spaceport catch up on two years’ worth of maintenance that was delayed amid budget cuts. And he said the extra money would allow Spaceport America to hire staff to draw more business.
The agency would still cover most of its own budget with revenue from aerospace companies, according to spaceport staff.
Virgin Galactic’s annual rent soon will increase to about $3 million from $1 million.
And Hicks said the spaceport expects to see more rocket launches in the coming year.
In turn, he added, the facility will need more services, such as additional firefighters, to cater to companies operating at the site.
But board Chairman Richard Holdridge said that after years of telling lawmakers the facility is working toward financial self-sufficiency, the request “could cause a few people to choke.”
The budget request will head next to legislative aides. Funding for the agency faces several rounds of committee hearings during next year’s 30-day session of the New Mexico Legislature.
State Sen. George Muñoz, a Democrat from Gallup who has proposed in the past to sell the spaceport, said Thursday that increasing the facility’s budget would be a tough sell.
“If you’re gaining contracts and you’re working towards financial stability and freedom, what do you need more money from the Legislature for?” he said.
Muñoz pointed to questions about the facility’s economic benefits in arguing that spaceport officials still need to prove their case that additional money from the general fund will pay off for the state.
Still, local governments might welcome the boost.
Shoppers in Sierra and Doña Ana counties still pay a tax on goods and services to pay off the cost of building the facility. And the spaceport has sought to use money from the tax to pay for day-to-day expenses.
In an interview earlier this summer, Doña Ana County Commissioner Ben Rawson said the state should cover more of the spaceport’s budget, arguing the funds would alleviate the burden that local communities are shouldering with their own tax dollars.
Many locals have argued that the tax was intended to pay for building the spaceport, not its ongoing operations.
Rawson argued that the Legislature’s support would help the spaceport realize its potential.
“I’m still optimistic that this will be a really big game changer,” Rawson said.
Contact Andrew Oxford at 505-986-3093 or aoxford@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter @andrewboxford.
