Airport lands grants totaling $817K
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Two matching-fund grants, one federal and one state, totaling $817,000 will be used to fund a pair of proposed projects at the facility.
A $576,000 federal grant will be used to construct a new T-hangar, while a $241,000 state grant will be utilized for taxiway and apron construction.
Warren County will be required to provide 10 percent in matching funds for both grants, around $81,700, with federal and state governments providing the remaining 90 percent, around $735,000.
Airport officials announced the projects and grant applications earlier this year, and County Executive John Pelham recently received notification from state Sen. Jerry Cooper’s office in the form of a letter from Commissioner Gerald F. Nicely that the grants had been approved.
‘This is the official release out of Sen. Cooper’s office,’ Pelham said at a recent meeting with airport manager John Patterson and Airport Commission chairman Joe Lane Howard to discuss the funding and the projects.
Howard and Patterson estimate that, once constructed, the 11,550-square-foot T-hangar, which will hold up to 10 aircraft, could generate as much as $13,000 per year in rental fees. Patterson says there is already 13 people on a waiting list for hanger space, so the hangar will essentially be fully occupied on completion.
‘This is finalizing this project,’ said Howard of the state’s announcement. ‘So this could start generating income as soon as the hangar is built, probably the end of this year.’
Howard says the majority of the hangars at the facility have basically paid for themselves and have been generating significant income.
‘Every hangar out there that’s been built hasn’t cost the county one penny,’ Howard said. ‘It’s all been revenue coming in, and the more we built, the more money we’ve had coming in for the airport. It hasn’t come from the taxpayers, it’s paid for itself. So that’s what’s good about this, plus we’ve got the federal money available and we need to take advantage of that.’
Pelham said he believes the airport offers the county a number of benefits.
‘One of the things I think is significant is the importance of our airport in recruiting industry,’ Pelham said. ‘This is a tool that give us a definite advantage. I don’t think there any counties our size that have the resources we have as far as an airport.’
Another benefit of the expansion and construction of the hangar is that it moves the airport closer to self-sufficiency.
‘We were blessed this year with some growth in Warren County,’ Pelham said. ‘A penny of property tax has brought in more money and some positive things happened that helps the taxpayers. With the construction of this new hangar, and others that will hopefully happen in the future, and because of the efforts of our airport manager and our airport commission, we have an airport that is very near, and I think we’ll see in the next two to three years an airport that is self-sufficient, that will not cost the taxpayers anything. We’re close to that now.’