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Port authority OKs $3.7M bond sale
By ed runyan
YOUNGSTOWN
The Western Reserve Port Authority has approved a Dec. 6 bond sale that will raise up to $3.7 million to make numerous improvements at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
About $268,750 of the money will be match money that would be used if the state agrees to make the former air-cargo building on the west side of the airport a Jobs Ready site.
If the Jobs Ready proposal is approved, the airport would receive $806,250 from the state so the port authority could buy the building and lease it for air-cargo use.
The following are the other projects planned for 2012 with the money borrowed through the bond sale:
Improvements to the conveyer in the baggage-screening area by the ticket counter.
Expanded baggage-claim system in the terminal.
Improvements to the curbs, facade and steel supports in the front of the terminal.
Construction of a winter-material (snow and ice melt) storage building.
Purchase of an improved boarding bridge to replace a current one.
Purchase of a boarding bridge that can accommodate smaller, 50-passenger planes.
Terminal boiler and air-conditioning unit replacements.
Rehabilitation of the sanitary sewer system and water lines within the complex.
Parking lot, access road, rental-car parking and light-fixture improvements.
Replacement of 140 waiting-area seats, painting and other general-condition improvements.
Painting and rust- proofing several hangars.
The port authority will repay the $3.7 million in two ways, said Dan Dickten, director of aviation at the airport. About 68 percent will come from the $4.50-per-segment passenger facility charges passengers pay when they buy an airline ticket. The rest will come from the airport’s general fund.
The airport also is making plans to construct a 14-compartment T-hangar next summer costing $450,000. Customers interested in renting each of the compartments already have been identified, Dickten said.
The T-hangar will be along the new east-side taxi lane to be built next year with $1.1 million being supplied by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The $450,000 will be borrowed and repaid from customers’ rent payments, Dickten said.