Kevin Clarke wrote:
I do not get this argument. I would like to understand it. But why is
the little podunk airport important? 3B3 Sterling, Mass, offers very
little to the local economy, if anything. KFIT, my home base, offers
very little to the local economy, a couple of shops, a restaurant, a few
commercial flights (Part 135) per week. Are they that big a deal?
KC

On the expense side to the argument you could say that the airport is
keeping taxes down. It pays some taxes to the town and uses very little
resources.

That big flat area of land is probably very desirable a residential
developer. I'm not sure how much land 3B3 sits on, but say they put 150
homes on 100 acres. If each home pays about $3,600/year in property
taxes, and has on average one school age child, that development is a
big money loser for the town since it costs Sterling $6,570 per year per
student (publicschoolreview.com). New homes are often purchased by young
families. Also, the costs for the town go way up if there's more than
one child in the family while property taxes don't change.

I see the Board of Education in Sterling wanted a 13.5% increase this
year, and the Selectmen wanted to hold it down to _only_ 9.9%. Since
Sterling now has about 1400 K-12 students (from city-data.com) Adding
another 150 students would make that 9.9% increase budget go up to a
10.6% increase, assuming a linear increase and new facilities aren't
needed.

This is only the education numbers. There are all the other service
needs residential development creates like road maintenance, police/fire
protection, library, tax collector services, etc.