Taxpayers invested millions in Eclipse

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The future looked bright for Eclipse Aviation in 2003 and 2004 when the state of New Mexico and the city of Albuquerque stepped in with generous tax breaks and investments.

Those investments are now at risk as Eclipse, which already had fallen on hard times, today announced it doesn’t have the cash to pay employees for their last two weeks of work.

The actual cash value of taxpayer investments in Eclipse is nearly $20 million.  At the state level the New Mexico State Investment Council bought a $10 million stake in the company in 2003 and later invested an additional $9 million.

The city of Albuquerque issued $45 million in industrial revenue bonds 2004, but the city's Economic Development Department said Eclipse, not the city, is responsible for repaying those who purchased the bonds.

The city also granted $770,000 in property tax abatements.

For now Peter Mitchell, the city's economic development director, said it's premature to give up on Eclipse.

"We're going to do everything possible to keep them here," Mitchell told KRQE News 13.  "They've been a super tenant for Albuquerque.

"They've exceeded the job numbers that they initially projected, and so we hope to do everything we can to keep them."

But if Eclipse is unable to stay in business, the city could be out hundreds of thousands of dollars.

New Mexico taxpayers are not the only large stakeholders in eclipse.  Microsoft chairman Bill Gates is said to have a major investment in the company.