Committee looks to federal funds for airport work

County could get 90% match for new terminal, hangar at local airport

Emily Gojmerac

Reporter

It will costs $1 to $1.5 million to build a new hangar at the Taylor County Airport, but there is a possibility of federal funds to help with the project.

At the Aug. 23 Taylor County Airport Committee meeting, Karl Kemper, Project Engineer for Becher and Hoppe and Mark Graczykowski from Wisconsin DOT/Bureau of Aeronautics (BOA), who conferenced in on the meeting, gave the committee lots to think about when it came to funding their newest project.

The funding source that the committee is looking at is called the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which is federal funding that was signed into law last year. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will disperse these funds to eligible airports throughout the country with $5 billion of the federal grant to be used to fund airport terminals, including replacing aging terminals and increase terminal energy efficiency. Another $5 billion to improve air traffic facilities, to replace facilities and equipment while improving safety and security. Finally there is $15 billion going towards airport infrastructure to increase safety and expand capacity.

Once the grant is awarded, the airport is guaranteed $160,000/year for 4 years, including this year. The grant amount is not the same every year but it is close to the $150,000-$160,000 range. This is not including the $150,000 of federal entitlement funds that the airport gets annually.

To make Taylor County Airport eligible for these grants, they will have to have a minimum amount of nine planes based in Medford. Currently there are 11 planes based at the airport.

Kemper said to the committee “Even though a new terminal building is something that the airport could use, a lot of other projects on your capital improvement plan would take priority before a terminal. The only way you would be able to see new terminal building in the future would be if you were awarded the BIL funding.”

Kemper added that the FAA awarded the first round of funding to Dane County Airport as well as some airports in Minnesota that are very similar to the Taylor County Airport in relation to their need for terminal buildings.

The FAA is really pushing for this BIL terminal money to be spent on projects that are “shovel ready,” meaning the area is ready to start construction as soon as possible.

When asked by chairman Chuck Zenner what the timeline looked like for this project, Graczykowski couldn’t give him a definite answer due to the grant not being awarded yet. He did however give a broad example as to how the timeline would look.

The example Graczykowski gave was if they apply for the grant in July or August, they should securely have that money by the end of September before the fiscal year ends depending on how smooth the contracting goes.

Graczykowski added “The main thing the county would have to know is how much the airport is going to be funded so you can take out as minimal of loan to the county as possible.”

County Finance Director Larry Brandl asked “How much would the county have to match?

Kemper answered, “It would be a 10% match, so for 10 cents on the dollar. So a two million dollar hangar for $200,000.”

Zenner’s only concern was that he doesn’t want to build a hangar if it’s just going to sit empty. Everyone agreed that they would want the hangar to be used and not collecting dust.

The second option that Kemper proposed was if they start on construction and eventually get awarded the BIL grant, they could use those funds to “pay themselves back.” In the meantime they could bank up their $150,000 entitlements for the next four years to equal $600,000 and use that money to pay themselves back if they are awarded the BIL grant.

Kemper did some research about this funding possibility after the last meeting and he discovered that to be able to fund this project with both BIL funding and entitlement funding, there has to be a useable unit of work at the end of the project. The other requirement is that you would need to apply for two separate grants and you couldn’t have one grant that is made up of both BIL and entitlement funding.

Graczykowski also explained that there are two different funding programs because the Airport Improvement Funds come through a different funding source than the BIL funds. The AIP funds come through the income from flying planes and gas taxes, etc, where as BIL funds come directly out of the general fund.

Between now and the next meeting in October, the committee plans to weigh the pros and cons and get more information on which direction they should take to fund this project.

In other business:

  Pat Jacobsen’s field on the north side of Apple Ave has had some draining issues. Airport manager Fred Ebert told Jacobsen that it is his decision on what he would like to get done. Jacobsen was going to talk to the town and see if he could get ditch cleared on his side of the road by a foot so that the water could reach the culvert. Utilities would be the only issue so Digger’s hotline would have to be contacted prior to any major changes.

  Dwayne Parkinson would like to put a 12-foot addition on his hangar toward the south. The board approved the addition project.

  The rotating beacon wasn’t working due to the starter going out. LED lights attempted to be installed, but LED lights wouldn’t fit, so the regular incandescent lights are still being used.