Mt. Vernon Airport Board to Issue $1.16 Million in Bonds

Airport Board to Issue $1.16 Million in Bonds
Mt. Vernon Register News, IL

Nov 13 2003 12:00AM


MT. VERNON — It’s getting to be a familiar topic in Jefferson County — a
board voting to issue bonds without voter approval as it tries to deal
with a troubled budget.
Mt. Vernon Airport Authority voted Wednesday night to issue $1.16 million
in bonds for a variety of projects, including land acquisition that may
lead to the moving of Old Fairfield Road.
The four airport commissioners at the meeting Wednesday also voted to kill
its sponsorship of future air shows and to suspend paying themselves a
$150-a-month salary after December.
The board said it can issue up to $1.16 million in bonds without voter
approval under current regulations, if the Illinois Department of
Transportation approves the projects. Part of the process involves paying
off some old bonds and reissuing them as part of the new bond issue.
Federal safety regulations that initially triggered the discussion have
been postponed, and Airport Authority Chairman Rodger Coatney said he had
been unsuccessful in pinning down federal officials on when or whether
they will ever be required.
Among the airport projects, $191,000 is earmarked for land acquisition for
a protection zone at the northeast end of Runway 23 and $100,000 for an
environmental assessment of the land.
The federal government was requiring that the runway be extended, as well
as the buffer at the end, for safety reasons should a plane go out of
control.
Airport Manager Jerry Nicholson said the airport needs to acquire the land
so it can remove trees in the flight pattern. He expects $180,000 of the
funding to be repaid in the future, though Coatney hasn’t been able to get
a commitment on when the Federal Aviation Administration will resume
enforcing the buffer zone safety requirements.
“There’s nothing on this list that you don’t have to do,” Nicholson said
of the bond-issue projects, which also include terminal and maintenance
building improvements and upgrades and improvements to three Cessna
aircraft owned by the airport.
“The airport is going to sink for a lack of maintenance if you don’t,”
Nicholson said.
The effect of the airport paying off some bonds and issuing new ones
should be that the local taxpayer will continue to pay 13 cents per $100
assessed valuation on their property toward the Airport Authority. That
rate could decline if property values increase in the district.
The board must still hold a public hearing, probably at its December
meeting, and can still stop the bond issue without cost if circumstances
change, up until the bonds are issued next year.
Briefly discussed was a special Airport Authority meeting at which an
audit report was discussed.
The audit reportedly calls for the board to get spending under a series of
tighter controls.
Nicholson confirmed a telephone tip to the Register-News that there had
been criticism of the spending on airport shows held in the last three
years. The loss in one year had been about $40,000, which the caller said
was the smallest in three years of losses.
Without looking at the report, Nicholson said the loss one year had indeed
been about $40,000 and that the air show will no longer be held.
“There’s not enough support from the community,” he said.
Earlier, Nicholson told the board each item on the list presented by the
auditors has been addressed.
“We have a timetable for implementation of all of it,” he said.




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