"Iowa city, airport look at budget problems"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Friday, May 7, 2004

Friday, May 7, 2004 
 
City, airport look at budget problems
The Centerville (IA) Daily Iowegian


The members of the Centerville Airport Commission and supporters didn't know
what to expect when they arrived for the 6:30 p.m. special Centerville City
Council meeting Wednesday. Some feared a complete sacking as had occurred a
half dozen years previous when the council and former commission were at
odds.

Though there was disagree ment over past airport budget interpretations,
there were no fireworks and both sides left the meeting to ponder solutions
to finance problems that have been enhanced by the city's current fiscal
problems.

City Clerk Cynthia Cortesio told the airport commission members that there
was a history of the airport needing to be financially bailed out when it
did not receive the projected revenue or overspent its budget.

Fuel purchases and reimbursements to the city, Cortesio said, were also a
problem. She said the city was not always getting its money back.

Todd Weber, who was on the commission until recently moving out of the city
limits, denied the city was not always reimbursed. In fact, he said, the
city was realizing an approximate 20 percent profit on the sales. And at the
end of a fiscal year, if the expenditures did not always tally with the
returns, it was because some of the purchased fuel was still in the tanks.
He said the city would get the rest of the money back when it was sold in
the following fiscal year.

Weber also pointed to the continuing decrease in city funding, even when it
had to provide unexpected additional funding to the airport. For the
2001-2002 year, the city's cost was $69,509. This year that ends June 30,
the total is $49,881. And for the upcoming fiscal year, city cuts leave the
funding at $29,645.

He pointed to a number of improvements recently made to the airport that
totaled $140,240 and included everything from a new septic tank and line to
a credit card reader and new gas pumps. There was also a new roof on the
terminal, water line, rewiring for hangars and hangar concrete floors and
sidewalks.

Weber also said the airport would actually have had a budget surplus this
year if an unexpected hangar door replacement hadn't cost $14,000, now
leaving them with a $5,000 projected deficit.

The commission members were leery of a proposal by Councilperson Bill Milani
- receive a set sum from the city each year, but the airport have its own
individual budget and check book. It would also be able to keep gas and
rental revenue rather than send it to the city's general fund.

This was the setup, Milani said, that is now used by the library board.

Weber said if this occurred, the commission would need start-up money at the
beginning of the fiscal year. He also expressed worry about how the airport
would handle unexpected costs like the hangar door.

Mayor Jack Williams, pointing to the large cuts in federal and state
funding, said all the city departments had to take large budget cuts and
still he did not know where the city could find the $5,000 for the airport's
deficit.

Both the city's finance committee and the airport commission will be meeting
to discuss possible solutions before gathering again at the next council
meeting.


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