Public, commissioners question local benefit of air service
Report: 32 percent of fliers last summer were full-time county residents
Before it ponies up $150,000 in Lodgers Tax dollars to subsidize Taos Air flights at the Taos Regional Airport this summer — plus $150,000 for next winter — Taos County intends to take a closer look at how locals will benefit from the air service.
The Town of Taos is responsible for collecting $300,000 from the county each year for the subsidy, according to an intergovernmental agreement, which also includes an annual $300,000 contribution from the Village of Taos Ski Valley and a $400,000 annual contribution from Taos. In addition to the $1 million in public money, Taos Ski Valley, Inc. will contribute $1.5 million for summer service this year, and $2.5 million for air service next winter.
Joe Zvada, director of aviation for Taos Air, along with Karina Armijo, director of marketing and tourism for the Town of Taos, which owns the airport, delivered air service reports to the Taos County Commission during its regular meeting on Tuesday (March 7).
“Regional support of air service is very common,” Zvada told commissioners. “Its hard for an operator — impossible — to come into a community like Taos, away from the beaten path and [having] a small population, and make it work. It’s really expensive.”
In addition to local government money, Zvada noted that “there’s lots of programs to support air service in communities like ours. On the federal side, it’s the Essential Air Service Program, which unfortunately we don’t qualify for; [and] the state has recently-enacted a program called the Rural Air Service Enhancement [Act] grant that we hope we can participate in.”
Regarding Essential Air Service, a federal program that offers commercial
flight service subsidies at rural airports, Zvada explained to the Taos News why “the community doesn’t qualify for the program: The program began after airline deregulation in the late ‘70s, with a finite list of qualifying communities. Taos is not included in that list.”
In return for the contributions of taxpayer dollars, Taos Air keeps fares lower — and offers up-to 20 percent discounts for local residents — than they otherwise would be; it also serves as a conduit for what a report indicated is significant spending among visitors who fly Taos Air.
According an analysis of the 2022 summer air season that was compiled by the Santa Fe-based firm Southwest Planning and Marketing, Taos County sees the greatest economic benefit from the summer season service, which resulted in an estimated $1.1 million in impacts from direct spending as a result of the flights last year. In winter, Taos Ski Valley sees the greatest benefit, with an estimated $7 million in spending impacts as a result of the air service.
Angel Fire, Red River, Eagle Nest and Questa don’t subsidize the air service, but benefit to varying degrees anyway, according to the report — such as an estimated $1.1 million winter time economic impact in Angel Fire.
Asked by District 4 Commissioner and Chair AnJanette Brush why the other communities weren’t providing subsidies, Zvada said, “Angel Fire won’t return our calls. We absolutely will approach Red River and Eagle Nest.”
Armijo noted that a survey found 32 percent of fliers last summer were full time residents here, while 36 percent were part time residents and 32 percent were visitors; 52 percent of fliers were traveling to visit family and friends; and every 1.7 travelers spent an average of 7.5 nights in the area awhile spending an average of $3,646. A majority of fliers last summer were first-time users of the service.
Armijo noted that more local property owners used the service in 2022 than in the previous year. Flights began in 2018. After a pandemic
pause in 2020, flights resumed in 2021, the first year of the public subsidy.
With “full-time residents, there was an uptick, as well as with parttime residents,” Armijo said. “What we’re seeing is not just visitors, but an increase in residents using the service year over year,” as well as business travel.
Statewide, according to Armijo, New Mexico sees $7 for every dollar spent on tourism and marketing.
“I believe this is close to that, if not more,” she said. “So it’s the investment you’re putting in, and the businesses are reaping the benefits of that investment. And again, this is Lodgers Tax, which can’t be used for a lot of other things. This is one of the very few things that it can be utilized for.”
County Manager Brent Jaramillo reminded commissioners that, “We do have some money that we can use to support this if this is the will of the commission,” referring to the county’s Lodgers Tax Fund, which like funds in other counties has seen only limited expenditures since the pandemic hit New Mexico in March 2020.
Jaramillo told the Taos News there is over $1.7 million in the fund, which drew in $970,000 in Lodgers Tax revenue during the fiscal year that ended last June, and $628,000 in 2021.
Jaramillo also noted that the county is seeking applicants to serve on a reconstituted Lodgers Tax Advisory Board, which also went defunct during the pandemic. The qualifications and deadlines for prospective members may be found in a notice on Page 4 of Section B in this edition of the Taos News.
Several aspects of Taos Air’s operations have caused community members to question the true local benefit of the subsidized air service, which some feel caters to the elite and not average Taos countians.
“The service is essentially only for those who can afford it, and the statistics you are provided make it abundantly clear the majority of Taoseños cannot afford it,” said Lawrence Baker, who was among two individuals who gave public comments during Tuesday’s meeting. “Eighty-three percent of passengers have an income over $75,000.”
“Taos Air passengers are not people who need subsidizing,” she said.
Anissa Arrambide, the county’s public information officer, clocked out of work to tell commissioners that she utilizes the air service to fly with her son to Dallas, one of Taos Air’s four destinations, on a regular basis.
“As a single parent, I do not have a $75,000 income,” she said. “It’s a blessing not to have to drive by myself with two kids to Albuquerque.”
Some commissioners were skeptical that the air service was providing as good a return on the county’s $300,000 investment of Lodgers Tax dollars as was claimed. District 4 Commissioner Darlene Vigil said she has “several questions” regarding the benefit of subsidizing the air service.
“I think it’s going to take a deeper dive,” she said. “I would like to suggest, commissioners, that we would direct our staff to have at it” before the county dedicates more money to the service, she said. “This is public money and we’re getting a lot of concerns out there. As I look through the data, I personally know a lot of questions; things aren’t just quite adding up.”