It’s a go for New Mexico’s Spaceport America.

The voters of Dona Ana County in southern New Mexico went to the polls April 3 and have passed a 0.25-cent gross receipts tax measure - money that will be used to fund infrastructure for Spaceport America, as well as a math and science education program in the county school system.

The tax will generate about $6.5 million each year, for 20 years.

April 6 update: The final, still unofficial results, are as follows: Yes, 9,020 votes; No, 8,750 votes.

The Dona Ana County Board of Commissioners will meet Tuesday, April 10 to certify the results and send the documentation to Santa Fe, the state capitol. As approved by the voters, the new one-quarter of one percent tax to support infrastructure development at Spaceport America north of Las Cruces will start on January 1, 2008.

Initially, the yes, or no voting on the spaceport ballot initiative was deemed “too close to call”, advised Rick Homans, chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the state’s cabinet secretary for economic development.

Early word was that spaceport tax supporters were ahead by 204 votes (out of more than 17,000 votes cast), but the outcome hinged on 541 provisional ballots that would be counted later.

On Thursday, however, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson issued a statement that “based on unofficial results, the spaceport ballot initiative has passed”, saluting the positive vote.

Also spotlighting the go-spaceport vote, Homans said the final design, engineering and construction of Spaceport America can move forward. He said the next two critical milestones for the spaceport will be the Record of Decision on the Environmental Impact Statement, and then receipt of the site operator’s license from the Federal Aviation Administration, expected in the first quarter of 2008.

Homans said he expects the spaceport to be operational by late 2009 or early 2010.

The voice of the voters on this matter was considered to be a measure of the credibility and viability of Spaceport America. For one, the facility is to be home site for Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spacelines that is offering suborbital treks for paying customers.

“While there is strong support in southern New Mexico for the spaceport project and the jobs that come with it, there is a concern about how to finance the project,” noted Homans in a press statement before the final voting tally. “We will continue to maintain the highest standards of fiscal responsibility, accountability and transparency if the vote turns out to be positive and we are able to move forward with Spaceport America,” he said.