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NEWS
Kalispell Airport Decision Delayed After Users
Propose Financial Support
City sta to meet with pilots, leaseholders to discuss possible agreement to keep air eld open
BY DILLON TABISH OF THE BEACON
Faced with the potential closure of the Kalispell City Airport, a group of pilots and tenants has o ered to help pay for the operational costs of the embattled 88-year-old air eld on the south end of town.
Dewey Swank, a local business owner who leases a hangar at the 71-acre munic- ipal site, approached the city council during its July 11 work session and pro- posed that city sta and airport users iron out a solution.
“The impetus behind the complaints comes down to money and who’s going to pay,” Swank said. “We want to make an o er to take responsibility.”
Swank told the Beacon he has a meet- ing scheduled this week with city sta . He declined to provide details of the pos- sible deal, saying it was too premature.
“I hope we can work out a solution,” he said.
The Kalispell Chamber of Commerce came out in support of the airport prior to Monday’s meeting, saying it is “an essential public facility” that helps local businesses while also playing “a vital role in emergency response, law enforcement, and disaster management when needed.”
“The City Airport is a valuable asset to the community and represents an 80-plus year commitment by the City to the aviation community,” Chamber Pres- ident Joe Unterreiner stated.
Unterreiner told councilors that a recent survey was sent out to chamber members; of the 50 who responded, 60 percent were in favor of continued oper- ations at the airport.
The city council appears to be simi- larly divided on the issue. Swank’s o er marked the latest twist in an ongoing saga involving the airport, which remains a nancial burden for the city whether it remains open or is shuttered, an option that has recently been put on the table by frustrated city councilors.
Many councilors expressed interest in negotiating with the airport’s users. The council agreed to delay making a decision for an inde nite period of time; it had
“THE IMPETUS BEHIND THE COMPLAINTS COMES DOWN TO MONEY AND WHO’S GOING TO PAY. WE WANT TO MAKE AN OFFER TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY.”
- DEWEY SWANK
Airplanes outside Red Eagle Aviation at the Kalispell City Airport. BEACON FILE PHOTO
originally intended to vote on a possible closure as early as next month.
“I’d like to hear the framework of what they’re thinking,” Mayor Mark Johnson said of the airport users.
Ward 3 representative Phil Gui rida conveyed skepticism and introduced a list of conditions he would like to see included in any agreement. The condi- tions would include requiring airport users to establish a reserve account of $18.68 million to protect the city against future nancial liabilities, including ongoing operations and maintenance at the site.
The outsized gure was rooted in a newspaper advertisement, paid for by airport users through Red Eagle Aviation, which claimed that the cost of buying out leases at the air eld could reach roughly $15 million, the demolition of the site could cost $1.5 million, and the total oper- ational losses could reach $2.18 million.
City sta has disputed the gures listed in the advertisement, and CTA Engineers Architects, which studied the possibility of closing the airport, esti- mated it would cost roughly $2.9 million to buy out the leases.
Gui rida criticized the ad as “polar- izing” and used the seemingly in ated numbers in his proposed conditions as a response.
“This is the cause and e ect (of the advertisement),” Gui rida said.
Councilor Kari Gabriel responded to Gui rida’s conditions with consternation. “This is one council member’s opin- ion. This isn’t how I enter into negotia- tions,” she said. “If we’re going to do this, I certainly hope we’ll set this aside and
start with neutral ground.”
Councilors Chad Graham, Rod Kuntz
and Jim Atkinson expressed initial sup- port for protecting the city from future liability if an agreement with the airport users fails to adequately address the nancial costs.
“It’s a worthwhile approach to guar- antee that the taxpayers don’t have to pay for the airport if they don’t want to,” said Atkinson, who said he remains in support of the airport. “I think there could be some conversation whether they should be paying for part of it sim- ply because it is a community asset. I’m looking forward to the conversation to see what does transpire.”
Gui rida, an outspoken critic of the airport who serves in Ward 4, has railed against the site’s nancial woes and the city’s subsidization. As a way to settle the long-standing debate, Gui rida said the city could oat a bond request for main- tenance and safety upgrades. This vote could help the council nd out whether voters want the city to support the air- port. He also said the city could simply increase property taxes through mill levies to support the ongoing costs. He did not say he supported these options but instead proposed them as possible solutions.
CTA’s report shows that the airport loses money on an annual basis. To keep the airport operational, the city would need to invest $900,000 over ve years to address overdue maintenance needs and safety issues, and it would continue to operate at a loss in the future, accord- ing to CTA’s report.
dtabish@ atheadbeacon.com
JULY 20, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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