The Pima County Supervisors on Tuesday approved a financing plan to construct a new manufacturing facility for a local startup company to lease.
Supervisor Ally Miller voted against the plan to build a $15 million building and launch site for World View. Supervisor Ray Carroll was absent from the meeting.
The company builds high-altitude balloons and capsules that travel to a near-space orbit carrying people and scientific payloads.
In January, supervisors approved a contract with World View to pay back the countyโs $15 million investment in construction of the building over 20 years of lease payments.
Pima County plans to pay for construction of a 120,000-square foot facility and space port on a 28-acre county owned parcel south of Tucson International Airport.
The company will pay more than $23.6 million in lease payments over the course of the agreement.
The financing plan for the buildingโs construction includes using Certificates of Participation, or COPs, a debt issuance that doesnโt require voter approval and allows the government to borrow against an asset to fund the project.
