Starbase EDC may issue $3 billion in tax-exempt bonds to support SpaceX, records show

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. is rapidly constructing rocket manufacturing and launching sites in South Texas and beyond, which means it’s looking for access to cash to finance all that building. 

As a privately held company, SpaceX had access to issue corporate bonds, and now, as a publicly traded company, it has even more opportunity to borrow up front to finance the flurry of activity. 

And now SpaceX is on track to gain a new financing method — at least $3 billion of municipal bonds through the city of Starbase Economic Development Corporation, according to records obtained by the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal.

That’s how much the city of Starbase Economic Development Corporation and the city of Starbase commission is expected to approve as a maximum limit to reimburse SpaceX for Boca Chica beach area spaceport facilities as an economic incentive for the creation of 1,000 full-time jobs with an average pay of $85,000 a year. The bond application submitted by SpaceX shows about $6 billion in total capital investment.