- Hillsdale Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino sees financial self-sufficiency as a goal for Hillsdale's Municipal Airport.
- Paladino says City staff think it could happen within three years.
- Debate on subsidies for the Airport continues following the resignation of Airport Manager Ginger Moore, who cited public negativity about the Airport as an impetus to step down.
- City of Hillsdale says subsidies to the Airport are about $150,000 per year, but economic benefits to the area total about $4 million per year.
- WATCH THE VIDEO as we take you inside the debate about the future of this municipal airport.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
"I love this airport....I wish it the best of luck and it's going to be left in good hands." That's outgoing Hillsdale Municipal Airport Manager Ginger Moore. She resigned last week, citing public negativity about the Airport.
I ran into her just as I arrived at this smaller airport on the outskirts of Hillsdale that is at the center of a debate about whether public money should go toward running this airport.
"It's very hard to judge what benefit this gives to the average citizen," says Hillsdale Mayor Pro Tem Joshua Paladino. Paladino showed me around the Airport. He admits that the question of how this benefits most neighbors is not easy to answer.
"I think that it can bring in more people into our county, and we do need that — more business," says Hillsdale neighbor Kathleen Pfeiffer.
According to a state study cited by the City Manager's Office, the Airport brings about $4M in economic benefits to the area. The City's budget subsidizes the airport with about $150,000 per year.
But Paladino says an Airport isn't high on taxpayers' list of priorities.
"I think the common-sense approach is we want it to take as little from property taxes as possible," says Paladino. "I would like it to ultimately be self-sustaining — even to bring profit to the City."
A new terminal is under construction — with an FAA grant covering $2.5M of the roughly $3M in construction costs, the rest split between the City and Michigan's Department of Transportation.
Paladino says just shutting down the airport is not an option: "We would get sued. It's not possible."
He says that's because of obligations tied to the City accepting government grant money for the Airport.
Paladino says the City may as well try to get some benefit from what's here, but try to phase out the subsidy.
"We're going to take steps to make it operate like a business," he says. Ideas on how to do that include increased and new revenues.
Paladino says City staff believes the subsidy could be eliminated within three years.
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