Airport Consolidation Issue Brings Cautious Comments - CollierCounty, FL

Airport Consolidation Issue Brings Cautious Comments
Naples Daily News, FL

December 29, 2003

Imagine one authority in Collier County running all four of the general 
aviation airports, generating enough money from fuel sales and leases so that 
no taxpayer money was necessary to balance its budget. 

That's a far cry from the way it works today, but the executive director of the 
Naples Airport Authority is confident this can become reality. 

But the political hurdles could be substantial, some observers say. 

County commissioners have asked the county's airport authority to discuss 
possible consolidation moves with the city's airport authority to save money. 

Early this month commissioners endorsed several staff recommendations to try 
and reduce the county's tax subsidy to the Collier County Airport Authority, 
which operates Everglades Airpark in Everglades City, Marco Island Executive 
Airport and Immokalee Regional Airport. 

Under a loan agreement, the authority owes the county more than $10 million it 
has received from the county since 1995. The County Commission has once again 
budgeted another $700,000 in this fiscal year's budget. 

In contrast, the Naples Airport Authority does not take tax money from the city 
to operate Naples Municipal Airport. 

In a memo to County Commissioner Fred Coyle, County Manager Jim Mudd recalled a 
meeting he had with Naples Airport Authority Executive Director Ted Soliday, in 
which Soliday stated he could operate the airports without the county's tax 
money. 

"He would likely make some changes in the current staff assignments," Mudd 
wrote. 

Soliday believes the Naples Airport Authority could operate the county-owned 
airports at a positive cash flow. 

"That's not profit, you know," he said. "Cash flow means we don't lose money 
out of our pocket." 

However, Soliday said he is not trying to cast judgment about how the Collier 
Airport Authority is running the county airports. 

"We have indicated (to county officials) that we are in business to run 
airports," he said. "The (city) authority said we'd consider an offer to take 
on the county airports. We don't want to take on debt, and we don't want to 
have the county telling us what we can do and can't do. The (Naples Airport 
Authority) board has been very, very careful in saying, 'The devil is in the 
details.'" 

One of those details might focus on who would be members of a new, consolidated 
airport board. 

Naples City Councilwoman Penny Taylor said she does not agree with the idea of 
one airport authority board with county members. 

"The city of Naples is in extremely close proximity to the airport, and it's 
the work of the citizens, and representation of the citizens on that board, 
that has quieted the airways and made the Naples airport a good neighbor," she 
said. "I'm very, very reluctant to putting it (the airport board) under county 
authority, when you might have folks on that board who may live as far away as 
Pelican Bay or Everglades City or Marco Island." 

Taylor said residents who don't live in the city limits might evaluate the 
airport system as a whole without much consideration for Naples residents. 

County Commissioner Fred Coyle said he is aware of these concerns. 

Coyle said he would like the upcoming talks to focus on the possibility of the 
city's airport authority contracting out to operate the county-owned airports, 
not a merging of the boards of the two authorities. 

State statute allows the Naples Airport Authority to contract with "any other 
public or private entity to operate any airport in Collier County." 

"I'm not going to push any proposal that does not meet the approval of Naples," 
Coyle said. "The positives can also be obtained without having a merger of 
airport authorities." 

Both authorities are semi-autonomous boards that make decisions about the 
day-to-day operations of the airports they control. These boards also hire the 
executive directors. The County Commission and City Council have some control 
over the boards through their appointment of the members. 

The state statute creating the Naples Airport Authority allows county 
membership on the board, and at one time county residents did serve on it. But 
in recent years, only Naples residents have been on the board, as the council 
passed an ordinance mandating this. 

Mudd's memo to Soliday outlined a couple of possible options for a consolidated 
administration. One calls for making the Collier County Airport Authority an 
advisory committee to the Naples Airport Authority. The other would create a 
new Naples Airport Authority with seven or eight members that would combine 
both authorities — an option Mudd says could require changing the state 
statute. 

Joseph McMackin, a lawyer for the Naples Airport Authority, said another 
possibility would be to create advisory committees that represent the county 
airports whose members can offer input to Soliday and the Naples Airport 
Authority staff. 

Some airport authority members say they could see potential benefits to one 
authority controlling all of the general aviation airports. 

Peter Eschauzier, who was recently the chairman of the Naples Airport 
Authority, said he believes that merging both authorities could be a positive 
move. 

"Mr. Soliday made it clear to me that in a lot of areas, he could run 
especially the Immokalee airport more efficiently, and could make it a 
money-making operation in short order," said Eschauzier. "Should it be one 
authority? It is up to elected officials whether people from the city or county 
will be running the authority. These are questions that need to be answered, 
and there are myriad political issues that are going to get involved." 

Eschauzier said a single authority could be more efficient in many ways. 

"Why would you have two or three different staffs? (By consolidating) you could 
easily do this with one executive director and managers at each airport," he 
said. 

Eschauzier said he can't envision county commissioners being too upset about no 
longer having to pay out tax money to run the county-owned airports. 

"I think the county commissioners will be so happy to have this monkey taken 
off their backs, especially if the airports start making money for county 
instead of being a financial drain on the taxpayers," he said. 

Eschauzier said he favors a complete merger of both authorities. 

"I think if you do it, you do it completely," he said. "If you've got too many 
cooks in the kitchen, it is going to get messier. You've got to have one chef 
in charge. In my view Soliday is the perfect manager for that." 

County airport authority member Steve Price said he is open to at least 
listening to proposals about consolidating the authorities. 

"I think the ideal situation would be a Collier County Airport Authority 
running all four airports with one administrative cost and the ability to 
manage those airports in harmony. The negative is the politics involved in 
putting it together." 
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