LISBON Officials seek finances for county airport hangar

By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Growth at the Columbiana County Airport is poised to take off as officials seek funding to add a new hangar to the facility.
County commissioners agreed Wednesday to authorize the airport authority to apply for a $250,000 bank loan to pay for the project.
The airport's hangar spaces are full, and there's a waiting list to get one, said John Sayle, airport authority director.
"The airport is not going to grow unless we provide hangars for aircraft," he said.
Planned is a 10-space, 10,000-square-foot hangar that would be built this fall at the airport, located along County Airport Road in Madison Township.
It would take about eight weeks to build the structure and surrounding taxi-ways. Once the project is finished, the airport would have enough hangar space to shelter 35 aircraft, Sayle said.
Rental fees of about $150 per month for each space in the new hangar would pay off the 15-year loan needed to build it, he added.
Productive: Commissioners said a recent report compiled by the Ohio County Auditor's Association demonstrates the efficiency with which Columbiana County government is operated.
The study compared counties' population with the amount budgeted for their year 2000 general funds. Counties use a general fund to run most their departments.
Columbiana County's 2000 general fund budget of $13.2 million was compared with its 112,075 population, giving the county a $118.05 per person operating cost.
That figure is the lowest of the 43 counties that responded to the survey. Ohio has 88 counties.
"I thought these were some interesting facts," said Commissioner President David Cranmer. Despite operating with less per person than many other Ohio counties, "we get the job done," Cranmer said.
Mahoning and Trumbull counties did not respond to the survey.
The general-fund-vs.-population figures for other area counties were: Portage, $198.52; Carroll, $178.08; Ashtabula, $191.20; and Tuscarawas, $204.63.
leigh@vindy.com