Bush Budget

The point: Direct tax subsidies (the AIP capital grants or the $150K
operating subsidy) go to GA airports, because the airports revenues
don't
cover expenses.

Wrong.

AIP grant money does not go into an airport's operating budget to cover
any shortfalls - it is earmarked for infrastructure improvements like
runways, taxiways, ramps or purchasing new equipment like plow trucks,
snowblowers etc.

by " Feb 9, 2006 at 12:59 PM


The point: Direct tax subsidies (the AIP capital grants or the $150K
operating subsidy) go to GA airports, because the airports revenues
don't
cover expenses.

Wrong.

AIP grant money does not go into an airport's operating budget to cover
any shortfalls - it is earmarked for infrastructure improvements like
runways, taxiways, ramps or purchasing new equipment like plow trucks,
snowblowers etc.

King: I know that. That's why I refered to AIP CAPITAL (as opposed to
OPERATING) grants.

King: I know that. That's why I refered to AIP CAPITAL (as opposed to OPERATING) grants.

Aha. The way you worded it, capital grants & subsidies got lumped
together for GA airports whose revenues don't cover expenses.

The airport I used to work at in CT has lost money ever since the
airlines left in '99 (maybe even before). They still get AIP money (got
a brandy-new snowblower last year) but the city that owns the airport
makes up the diff in their annual budget. If the airport ever made a
profit it would owe taxes to the town in which the airport sits.

When federal tax revenues go to bolster ski area operations and build lifts...

Doubtful, seeing as they aren't part of a national transportation
infrastructure. But, the way global warming seems to be progressing ski
area ops days may be numbered. gasp!

Just got this in the mail from AOPA.

"PRESIDENT'S BUDGET PROPOSES MAJOR CUTS TO GA AIRPORTS

General aviation airports are in for a rough time next year if the Bush
administration gets its way. "The White House is proposing to cut nearly $1
billion from the Airport Improvement Program in 2007 compared to the amount
established by Congress, and almost all of that would come from monies
earmarked for GA airports," said AOPA President Phil Boyer. "Congress must
not allow this to happen."

Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta released the Department of
Transportation's budget earlier this week, which includes $13.7 billion for
the FAA. DOT claims that the reduced amount for airports is "still robust by
historical standards" and that all major runway projects would be completed.
"There's so much more to the system than runways at air carrier airports,"
said
Boyer. The money the administration proposes to "save" by cutting GA
airport funding would be used to help pay for air traffic control
operations. But the typical GA pilot is only a marginal consumer of ATC
services; some 90 percent of GA flights are flown in VFR conditions. Once
again, the administration is claiming poverty when it comes to the FAA
because the funding system is allegedly broken. "There is general agreement
that our growing aviation system needs a more stable and predictable revenue
stream that creates a more direct relationship between revenues collected
and services provided," Mineta said. "As the representative of more than
407,000 pilots, we definitely do not concur with that statement," said
Boyer. "There's no 'general agreement' from our side--and never will
be--especially for any proposal that includes user fees."

See AOPA Online
( http://www.aopa.org/whatsnew/newsite...208budget.html )."