"Monroe, LA searches for money for new airport terminal"

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Monroe searches for money for new airport terminal
Legislator seeks to secure $700,000 to design facility.
By Greg Hilburn
The Shreveport (LA) Times


Louisiana Sen. Noble Ellington said he believes the city of Monroe will
secure $700,000 in state funding for designing an airport terminal.

Monroe Mayor Jamie Mayo testified Tuesday before the Joint House and Senate
Transportation Committee in Baton Rouge about the need for the funding for
Monroe Regional Airport.
 
"We can't get along without this airport, and the need is clear for a new
terminal," said Ellington, D-Winnsboro, chairman of the Senate
Transportation Committee.

Ellington said the Aviation Priority Program within the Transportation Trust
Fund has $8.3 million to spend on airport projects in the 2007-08 budget.
The funding won't be finalized until the legislative session that begins
later this month, he said.

"The updating of the Monroe Regional Airport is one of our top priorities,"
Mayo said. "My administration and the City Council are working with
officials at the state and federal levels to secure the necessary funding
for this project."

A regional economic development study presented last week also points to
updating the airport as a priority. The study by Competitive Strategies
Group of Atlanta cites the airport as presenting an "archaic picture" of the
Monroe region and says the terminal "should be updated as soon as possible
if the region wishes to present itself favorably to outside investors."

The city and Monroe Chamber of Commerce have secured $1 million toward the
proposed $20 million terminal. Another $2 million was earmarked for the
airport in the federal budget before Congress declared a one-year moratorium
on such funding.

"All of the earmarked funding has gone back to the individual federal
agencies to decide how it will be spent," said Lori Reneau, vice president
of the Monroe chamber. "We're working with the (Federal Aviation
Administration) now to see how much of that $2 million we can retain."

Reneau said the city and chamber are making a request for a $7 million
federal appropriation in the 2008 budget.

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