Clarifying Funding Debate for Wellsville Airport
The Wellsville Town Board would like to thank the County
Legislature for the continued commitment to supporting the Wellsville Municipal
Airport. Recent discussions and multiple
County led meetings have taken place to discuss the various ways in which Allegany
County can help to promote and fund one of the Counties most valuable assets,
the Wellsville Municipal Airport.
The Wellsville Airport Committee and the Wellsville Town
Board felt it necessary to comment on a recent article distributed by several
local media outlets concerning debates over a $50,000 funding request for the
Wellsville Municipal Airport. Please
accept the following article as our attempt to clarify some of the information
not easily understood.
When reviewing the needs of the Wellsville Municipal
Airport, it is difficult but necessary to understand how the Airport functions,
and how the finances are appropriated.
It is also helpful to understand that fiscal oversight is the
responsibility of the Town Supervisor and Town Board, with further oversight
from the NYS Comptroller’s Office along with audits required by the FAA and
NYSDOT.
The Town of Wellsville Board and Airport Committee has
worked diligently to provide as much information as possible to satisfy the
inquiries of Elected and/or Appointed County Officials, along with other paid
County employees as part of this partnership process. We met in January to present our needs and
requests officially to the “Committee of the Whole” for a “Q and A” at the
Legislative Chamber.
Working thru multiple
requests, and talking with many County Representatives it has become readily
apparent that there is a terrific overall understanding and support for the
idea of partnering in some way with Allegany County to help ensure the
Wellsville Municipal Airport remain a strong selling point for the Industrial
Development Agency (IDA) and Economic Development Agencies when promoting
future business growth and development in our County.
Thru this process it has become apparent that a few items
still need to be clarified so that this partnership can move forward. The following are a few that seem most
confusing and in need of clarification:
1. The Airport
is funded thru the Town of Wellsville and has its own “Enterprise Fund” in the
budgetary process as required by law.
All funds dedicated to the Airport have to remain in the Enterprise Fund
regardless of the origins of the funds.
Any monies of support from Allegany County would be directed to the
Enterprise Fund and could only be used by the Enterprise (Airport).
2. The overall
budget for the Airport Enterprise fund does in fact exceed $750,000 in
2019. This number can reach well into
the millions depending on capital projects that may be occurring during a
fiscal year. Our Enterprise budget further
includes expenditures that are covered by revenues thru rental fees, use fees,
Jet Fuel and Avgas sales, and most importantly from FAA and NYSDOT grant
funding.
Over the last several
years, the tax levied contributions that had to be transferred from the General
Fund to the Airport Enterprise Fund to balance the income shortfalls range from
around $60,000 to $110,000 depending primarily on necessary and/or mandated
Capital Projects. (The $250,000 budget offered for the Olean Regional Airport
does not include the “pass-thru” monies for their capital projects. Without these “pass-thru” monies in the
Wellsville Enterprise Fund, the budgetary expenditures are around
$310,000….very similar to the $250,000 expenditure for Olean which has less Jet
Fuel and Avgas sales. Both Airports
require similar “taxpayer” contributions to balance their Enterprise Fund
budgets. These discrepancies can easily
be understood when reviewing the budget numbers provided to us by the City of
Olean.)
3. Our
neighboring Cattaraugus County helps to financially support their Olean
Airport. These contributions would
require financial accountability thru access to budget information and audits
as would typically be required for any government contribution as defined by
the NYS Comptroller’s Office. We would
expect our partnership to provide a system of accountability that would be
satisfactory to Allegany County and any other governing agency.
4. The Town of
Wellsville is required by law to have “a balanced budget” for the Airport as
well as all facets of our budget. We are
requesting County support because it seems reasonable that Town of Wellsville
taxpayers should not continue to be solely responsible for funding and
Enterprise Fund that supports an Airport that benefits every single citizen
and/or taxpayer in some fashion in our County.
With the Allegany
County IDA providing PILOT’s to multiple business entities in Wellsville to
ensure their stability, coupled with decreases in assessed values on business
entities within our Town, funding the Airport has become a much greater burden
that Wellsville taxpayers can no longer afford nor should be expected to bear
alone.It seems appropriate that the County Lawmakers would reinvest resources that are partially funded to the County from Wellsville taxpayers thru property tax revenues and sales tax revenues that reach into the millions of dollars annually from Wellsville Businesses.
5. Closing the
Wellsville Municipal Airport would require paying back all FAA and NYSDOT funds
that have been received over the last 20+ years. These numbers reach into the millions of
dollars range making it easy to understand how that is not a viable
option. The Town of Wellsville is
looking to promote and grow the Airport by partnering with Allegany County to
provide further financial and Economic Development assistance in hopes that it
can become completely solvent on its own.
The Town of Wellsville and the Wellsville Municipal Airport
Committee are grateful for the overwhelming support from most members of County
government and the many departments under their direction. Because of the tireless efforts of Gary
Barnes (R-Wellsville), Karl Graves (R-Wellsville), Dwight Fanton
(R-Independence), Board Chairman Curt Crandall (R-Belfast), Tim Boyde (County
Administrator), Dr. Craig Clark (Director of IDA) and several other
representatives, the County and Town of Wellsville are slowly developing long
term partnership plans to ensure the success of this airport.
Financial Support is
just one of the manners in which the County has offered to look into assisting
the Airport. We are encouraged by the
forward thinking of David Decker (R-Cuba) and Debra Root (R-Scio) who
understand the need to preserve this County asset and grow its usefulness by
including it in the County Strategic Plan.
We are further encouraged by discussions with William Dibble (R-Little
Genesee) that continue to shed light on future improvements and growth
opportunities at our Airport. We require
continued support from the other representatives that have quietly acquired
information and have offered their support, concerns, and suggestions. Having support of the entire Board of
Legislators is our ultimate goal.
There doesn’t seem to be any dispute in the value to the
County and its citizens derived from the Wellsville Municipal Airport. We are excited about the opportunity to work
towards further developing the usefulness and benefits to all County residents
and businesses.
Our County and Town
Representatives recognize that doing nothing will certainly result in less than
desirable results…..working together and consolidating resources will be the
formula for success for most challenges facing our Townships and Businesses
Countywide.
Submitted by:
Shad Alsworth
(Wellsville Town Supervisor)
With approval and support from the Wellsville Town Board and
Airport Committee
