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What is an Airport Worth?
August 2011
If you asked this question of an aviator, you'd probably get one of those "slipping-the-surly-bonds-of-earth" type responses. It wouldn't be wrong, but it wouldn't answer the question, either.
The staff at the State of Idaho's Aeronautics Division not only asked the question, they found an answer. And the answer allowed them to call public airports the "economic engine to the communities" they serve. Why?
Their study, entitled The Economic Impact of Airports in Idaho, was conducted by The Airport Technology and Planning Group, Inc., a research firm out of Cincinnati, Ohio. According to its synopsis, the Lewison-Nez Perce County Regional Airport is an economic engine that creates some 650 jobs in the region with an estimated payroll of over $13.2 million every year. Add to that direct goods and services airport businesses buy in the region plus the dollar's turnover and you've got an annual injection of almost $37.7 million into the regional economy.
Is that possible? City staff in the mid-1990s conducted a separate study using similar survey techniques and found that businesses located on the Lewiston-Nez Perce Country Regional Airport had an annual payroll in excess of $4.7 million! Even back then, airport businesses purchased more than $7 million in local goods and services. And the myth that airport tenants don't pay taxes? It's just a myth. Airport tenants paid over $300,000 in local taxes that year alone. Visitors arriving through the airport added another $12 million to the local economy. All told, that study easily came up with an estimated annual economic impact of $55 million!
What's an airport worth? The romantic that still resides in each aviator might get you a poem or description of a priceless sunset, but to the regional economy, the answer is in dollars and cents and the sum is pretty amazing!
Parking Review
August 2011
You may have noticed a lot of chalked tires on cars in the main lot lately. No need for alarm, we're just trying to get a better handle on our parking situation.
It's a fine line (no pun intended) between offering free parking as a customer incentive and encouraging abuse by those who aren't airport users at all. So we'll be chalking tires periodically. Abandoned cars and parking lot abusers will be towed away.
On a related note, the Authority Board will soon take up the issue of parking space allocation. Our hope is to create additional parking, provide more convenient parking for those who truly need it, and do it all with minimal cost.
Authority Budget
August 2011
The Lewiston-Nez Perce County Regional Airport Authority Board presented its first budget mid June to the Lewison City Council and the Nez Perce County Board of Commissioners.
The same two governmental entities created the Airport Authority in 2010 with a view toward "administrative efficiencies, and the reduction of political conflicts." Charged with making the Airport as self-supporting as possible, the Authority Board spent weeks preparing by pouring over financial information.
"Weather forecasters and accountants rely on historical information to predict the future. In our case, we didn't have good historical information." -William V. McCann, Jr. Chairman
"Weather forecasters and accountants rely on historical information to predict the future," said Bill McCann, Jr., Board Chairman. "In our case, we didn't have good historical information."
Pat Nuxoll, Board Treasurer, was challenged. "We knew going into this fiscal year we'd have to cut $75,000 from the budget just to balance things out."
The Board and stuff cut, they learned to be more efficient, and they reached their goal. Budgeting for next fiscal year was and will be challenging in more ways than one. Your Airport Authority and staff will be looking for ways to do things with less money. "There's been a lot of deferred maintenance at the airport," said Vice Chairman Mike Martin, "and whether it's a piece of pavement or an electronic gate, when you defer maintenance, you increase the risk of catastrophic failure or increase the cost of repair further down the road."
Like a sectional chart, the budget establishes how the Authority will take the airport from one point to another over the twelve months starting October 1, 2011. It establishes levels of service along with operational and maintenance priorities. The budget's fate now rests with the City Council and County Board. "Ultimately, it's their airport," said Chairman McCann. "How fast we reach their goals is -to a great degree- dependent on them."