Pima County needs economic development and jobs
On Tuesday January 19th, 2016 I attended the Pima County Board of Supervisor’s meeting downtown. My interest in that meeting was an item on the agenda pertaining to the privately owned company, World View, and the fact that the Board of Supervisors were going to vote on a $14.5 million dollar deal to build a facility and space port for said company. First let me point out some facts about World View.
This company has only been in business since 2013. They are a business that will manufacture balloons to take equipment and people to near space. To date, they have only taken a person to near space 3 times. The same person. They will not show their financials as they said these are “Proprietary.” They will not reveal how many people have made deposits to make the trip to space ($75,000 per flight). And there is little information on who they currently have contracts with or who they are negotiating contracts with. They also do not have FAA approval to build the space port.
Please know that I DO want this company to stay in Tucson as it is a “good thing.” My issues are not with the company. My issues are with the Board of Supervisors and Chuck Huckleberry building them a $14.5 million dollar facility, with taxpayer money, without seeing any of their financials or business plan. Would you give money to a company that provided you only their word?
This company claims to have numerous international investors and have made several million dollars over the last 2 years (no financials so we can’t verify any of this).
The facility will be rented to them and after 19 years World View has the option to purchase this facility for $10. Huckleberry says that if the company fails the county will just rent the facility to someone else. It will be very difficult to rent out because it’s use is very specific. And don’t let us forget that the County is going to obtain the monies needed for the facility build by mortgaging current county assets. So what happens if the company fails? We get stuck with paying for the facility maintenance and the mortgages on the county property that we used to obtain the funds.
The bottom line is that Pima County needs economic development and jobs. But I do not believe this is the way to do it. We are mortgaging our assets to build a facility for a private unproven company that will not show us their financial statements or business plan. This is an extremely risky endeavor and one that should not be at the expense of the tax payers.
A more educated decision could have been made if World View would have supplied the necessary documents – but that was not the case. The decision to approve this agenda item was made with little more than a promise that the company will succeed.
How does any of this make good business sense?
Two more items of interest:
• This facility build was on the bonds that Pima County voted on just this past November and residents overwhelmingly voted NO. Apparently, the Board of Supervisors do not care what the citizens of Pima County want. They will do whatever they please.
• The contract with World View was signed by Chuck Huckleberry prior to the Board of Supervisors vote on January 19, 2016. He knew that he would get a 4-1 vote. Apparently Chuck Huckleberry does not work for you, nor does he work for the Board of Supervisor’s. The Board of Supervisor’s work for him.
It is time to stop Chuck Huckleberry and 4 Supervisors from exercising their incompetence, poor judgment and blatant disrespect for the will of the people in Pima County.
By Kim DeMarco, Candidate for Pima County Supervisor – District 3.