"Funding for new D/FW in-line baggage system at issue"

Sunday, May 9, 2004

Funding for new system at issue
By Bryon Okada
The Fort Worth (TX) Star-Telegram


D/FW AIRPORT - After more than a year of political cooperation,
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport and the federal Transportation Security
Administration appear headed for a feud over funding for an "in-line
baggage system."

Airport officials say a new federal law outlining cost-sharing for an
in-line baggage system is clear: The government's share of D/FW's system
-- which will cost more than $139 million -- is 90 percent.

But TSA officials say they originally agreed to pay 75 percent of D/FW's
cost. President Bush has recommended 75 percent, and TSA leaders say
Congress will appropriate only enough funds to cover about 75 percent.

The difference between a 90 percent reimbursement and a 75 percent
reimbursement is about $21 million.

"Our board is so serious about this issue, we will leave no stone
unturned," said Kevin Cox, D/FW's chief operating officer. "We are
currently working with the appropriators, we are currently looking at
our legal options, and we expect the TSA to comply with congressional
intent until such time as that intent is changed."

But that may not be the outcome.

"We've got some very difficult decisions, and we're looking at our
budget caps," U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, R-Fort Worth, said recently. "It's
a very bad budget year."

Granger, a former Fort Worth mayor and member of the D/FW Airport Board,
is on the homeland security subcommittee of the House Appropriations
Committee.

"It's not looking good for the 90 percent," she said.

TSA officials acknowledge that Congress approved authorization language
late last year that retroactively set the federal share for D/FW's
in-line baggage system at 90 percent. But an authorization is not an
appropriation, which is in the purview of Congress.

Further, TSA officials said only limited funds are available for
airports building in-line baggage systems -- the $955 million over three
years already allocated through the first eight letters of intent,
including D/FW's.

"If it's determined that the federal portion is 90 instead of 75,
additional technology at other airports would have to be sacrificed,"
TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said.

Congress mandated the screening of baggage. Airports have argued that
shielding baggage from terrorists is a federal issue, to be paid for
with federal funds. Many airports started building bomb-screening
systems without federal agreements in place. Granting letters of intent
to some airports, therefore, already creates an air of inequity.

D/FW officials, who pitched cost-sharing plans as early as February
2002, say they are concerned that the TSA's posture may end up pitting
haves against have-nots, as opposed to seeking a solution that would
result in all parties collectively lobbying Congress for more TSA
funding.

Cox said D/FW is "completely supportive" of TSA's political arm-twisting
to get more funds.

"But they should not disregard the law," he said.

Meanwhile, D/FW has included funding in an upcoming bond issue to cover
the cost of building an in-line baggage system if federal reimbursements
are made at the 75 percent level.


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