Mount Airy is scheduled to end its co-sponsorship of Mount Airy-Surry County Airport on June 30, based on earlier action by city officials.
The city Board of Commissioners had set a deadline last September for the airport’s governing body to request annexation by the city, with the city’s continuing sponsorship hanging in the balance. Since no request came, action taken by Mount Airy at the time indicated that the city’s co-sponsorship automatically would cease in June.
However, a top city official now says the city’s pullout will not be all that “automatic.” Due to the presence of millions of dollars’ worth of fixed assets at the Holly Springs facility, Mayor Jack Loftis says the projected split could be much more complicated.
“Regardless of the notification on June 30, it doesn’t mean that we’re just walking away,” Loftis said.
“If someone wants to take it over, we need to get fair value.”
The Mount Airy and Surry County governments have operated the local airport through a partnership dating to the 1960s. They each have contributed money toward the airport over the years as a result, meaning that a state of joint, 50-50 ownership exists for certain property there.
Last year’s annexation request arose from plans for a $14 million expansion to expand the runway and make other improvements to the facility. Mount Airy was asked to contribute $600,000 toward the project, also targeted to receive a hefty contribution from the county as well as state and federal allocations.
Mount Airy officials have said they can’t justify such an expense at this time, due to a tight budget and the fact city-based industries which once based aircraft there to aid their business operations have shut down in recent years.
The annexation request by the city was an attempt to be able to recoup some of the $600,000 investment it was asked to make through property tax revenues. Loftis said that the county, on the other hand, will able to achieve such a return on its appropriation to aid the expansion.
Members of the Airport Authority, which oversees the facility, have balked at the idea of annexation, saying they don’t want to subject properties there to double taxation, which would result.
After the city set its June 30 date for pulling out of the facility, county officials repeatedly asked city leaders during liaison committee meetings held on joint projects to withdraw sooner. Their reasoning was that the city’s continued involvement would hamper the airport expansion.
However, there has been virtually no open discussion on the airport since the fall on the part of Mount Airy’s commissioners. And when another liaison committee meeting was held Thursday between city and Surry officials, water and economic-development issues were aired, but not the airport.
“I think there’ll be some continuing negotiations between the county and the city as to what the next move will be for the city,” Dean Brown, a member of the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners, said Monday.
Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.
Post a Comment
