"Budget shows slight rebound for Lambert"

Wednesday, April 3, 2002

Budget shows slight rebound for Lambert
BY KEN LEISER
The St. Louis (MO) Post-Dispatch


Lambert Field commissioners approved a $164 million budget Wednesday that
will put extra money into airport security next year. The budget reflects a
slight financial rebound from post-Sept. 11 losses.

Airport officials describe the proposed 2002-03 budget as a no-frills
spending plan. That includes a major jump in debt costs for the new runway
expansion.

"I think it is very much holding the line," said Airport Director Leonard
Griggs. "We are trying to be as prudent as we can."

After the terrorist attacks, U.S. airports were hit with the one-two punch
of declining revenues and added security expenses. Lambert officials
responded by putting off some noncritical construction projects and cutting
some discretionary expenses.

Griggs said he is freezing some positions, as well. But next year's budget
calls for 11 new police officers and two sergeants to help meet the mandates
of the new Transportation Security Administration.

The airport is seeking $2.5 million from the federal government to defray
the costs of those officers in the budget year that begins July 1. The
National Guard now performs many of those checkpoint duties, but the
soldiers will leave starting this month.

Other costs have grown, too.

Staff reports show the airport will have to spend more on medical insurance
for its employees, longer shuttle rides to a new employee parking lot and
increased contributions to an employee retirement fund.

Griggs, who testified before a U.S. Senate committee in September on the
airport's financial struggles, said Wednesday that Lambert has recovered
faster than other airports.

The budget reflects an additional $30 million-a-year in spending on debt
service for bonds that were sold over the past two years to finance the
airport's runway expansion.

Last year's budget was $125.9 million, but didn't include those additional
debt costs.

That cost will be offset mostly by passenger fees, said Kenneth Below, the
airport's chief financial officer. Airlines will also begin paying a portion
of the runway cost after it opens in 2006.

The first phase of expansion - expected to cost about $1.1 billion to $1.4
billion - will add a third parallel runway southwest of the existing
airfield.

Work has already begun to grade the land and rebuild major roads. The city
just awarded a $49 million construction contract for the Lindbergh Boulevard
tunnel that will pass beneath the new runway.

Griggs said a lot of the spending on day-to-day operations and projects was
curtailed after the terrorist attacks.

For instance, the proposed budget - which must still be approved by the city
Estimate Board and Board of Aldermen - will help the airport begin replacing
obsolete equipment again.

Despite the initial drop in air travel, the Lambert budget shows landing
fees growing slightly to $43.8 million next year and a 10 percent increase
in concession income, which had dropped badly after Sept. 11.

"The only place where I am really seeing an impact is in the parking," Below
said. "You have meeters and greeters who are just picking people up now.
They're not parking. People can't go in the concourses.

"The parking revenue is down ... but everything else is close to where we
were at this time last year."

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