Friday, September 21, 2012
Staff report
WARREN
The Trumbull County commissioners Thursday restored the county’s funding to the Western Reserve Port Authority, which runs the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.
Commissioners approved a resolution in July that decreased the amount of funding Trumbull County gave to the port authority from 3 percent of the county’s bed tax to 2 percent, or roughly $120,000 less annually. The reduction would have taken effect Oct. 1.
At the time, Trumbull County Commissioner Paul Heltzel said the reason was that commissioners disagreed with the authority’s giving a $7,500 bonus to its aviation director, Dan Dickten.
Another reason was that Mahoning County commissioners had failed to provide the additional bed-tax money to the airport that it had promised.
Since then, the port authority rescinded Dickten’s bonus, and Mahoning County commissioners increased their contribution to the port authority.
Heltzel said Thursday the increased Mahoning County funding will allow airport officials to make improvements to airport hangars and runways and keep up with routine maintenance.
Heltzel said some of the additional money also will be used to continue the operation of the authority’s economic-development office, which is run by Rose Ann DeLeon and Sarah Lown.
When asked recently how the additional Mahoning County revenue — likely to be around $375,000 annually — would be used, port authority officials have said the board has not discussed it recently.