AIRPORTS PUSH FOR STATE FUNDING

Missouri's general aviation airports say they can't soar into the future without more state funding.

They want the state to earmark money from the sales tax on jet fuel to help fund the more than 100 general aviation airports in Missouri.

The funding plan would apply to all but the state's two largest airports: Kansas City International and St. Louis' Lambert Field.

Two different airport funding bills have been filed in the Missouri Senate. Both could provide some state funding for operation of Cape Girardeau's air traffic control tower.

Cape Girardeau officials want the state to help fund the $125,000-a-year tower operation. The city has been paying the entire cost of operating the tower since the federal government quit funding it in 1995.

Senate Bill 813, introduced by Sen. Franc Flotron, R-Chesterfield, would authorize the state to put jet-fuel sales tax revenue into the aviation trust fund to provide matching funds for airport projects. It also would help fund air traffic control towers no longer funded by the federal government.

Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City both fund airport towers that previously were financed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Under the bill, the state would pay half the cost of those tower operations, up to a maximum of $125,000 per tower.

Flotron's bill would limit spending to $500,000 per airport project.

Sen. Jerry Howard, D-Dexter, has introduced another bill, Senate Bill 864. It would also earmark the fuel tax money for airports, but wouldn't require local matches or put limits on the amount the state could spend on airport projects and control towers.

Bob Stuart manages Malden's airport and industrial park, and serves on the state's Aviation Advisory Committee.

Stuart and the committee are pushing for the state to provide greater funding. "We are trying to get our fair share," he said.

The state currently provides little funding for airports, Stuart said.

Cape Girardeau Regional Airport manager Bruce Loy said this year the state has allocated about $1.1 million for airport projects statewide. About $642,000 is budgeted from the general fund; another $500,000 is generated by a state sales tax on regular aviation fuel.

But Missouri's airports don't get back any of the approximately $14 million a year in tax revenue from jet fuel sales, Stuart said. "It all goes into general revenue."

Stuart and other airport operators want the money to go into the aviation trust fund.

Rural airports, in particular, need an infusion of state dollars, he said. If the state doesn't lend a financial hand, a lot of rural airports won't survive, Stuart said.

"Cities and counties can't afford to maintain airports and they shouldn't have to," he said.

Without airports, he said, rural areas have little chance of landing new industries or fostering economic growth.

"Aviation is not a rich man's game; it is a business," he said.

Malden has one of the top airports in Southeast Missouri, with three 5,000-foot-long runways. Two are lighted runways. It costs $250,000 a year to operate the airport and industrial park.

Stuart said the Malden airport is in better shape financially than many rural airports. It is funded with the revenue it generates from rental housing and the rent it receives from 1,800 acres of farm land.

The airport depends on federal grants to fund improvement projects. But such grants are often hard to obtain, he said.

Federal aviation funding for airport projects in Missouri has been cut from a high of $14 million in 1993, to a little over $4 million in 1997, Stuart said.

"It seems that no one wants to listen to the problems that aviation has in the state of Missouri," Stuart said. "Other states help fund their airports."

Stuart plans to testify in support of SB 813 at a hearing Tuesday before the Senate's Local Government Committee. Cape Girardeau's airport manager also is scheduled to attend the hearing.

Howard's bill was filed this week. Howard plans to take his bill before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Howard said he filed the bill to meet the funding needs of Southeast Missouri airports.

He said the fuel tax money is paid by the aviation industry and should go back into aviation improvements. "Here we have needs that are not being met because the federal government has cut back," Howard said.

Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, said he supports efforts to provide increased state funding for general aviation airports. "I think both of these bills are sound moves in the right direction," he said.

Kinder said the Missouri Department of Transportation isn't just a highway department. "There has got to be room in a $15 billion state budget for a few million dollars for airports," Kinder said.