City Also Gets Stuck With Over $280K In Debt From Bankrupt
School
Abandoned by the now-defunct Silver State Helicopters, hangar
space at New Braunfels Municipal Airport in Texas is now back in
the hands of the city.
As reported by ANN, Silver State helicopters
abandoned students and creditors in February after ceasing
operations abruptly after a string of allegations of unsavory
business practices and potential fraud.
According to the Herald Zeitung, the company’s assets,
including the hangar space in the city of New Braunfels, TX, were
frozen by a federal bankruptcy court in Nevada for a period of more
than 150 days.
After nearly five months, enough time has passed to require the
court to turn over control of the hangars back to the city since it
was not claimed as one of the company’s significant assets,
according to New Braunfels City Manager Mike Morrison.
“The deadline has passed for anyone to lay any claim to
the leases on the hangars,” Morrison said. “We’re
in the process of preparing request for proposals to begin the
process of re-leasing those hangars, and finding someone to take
over the tower operations.”
As part of a flight training program the school had introduced,
the control tower at the airport was also operated by Silver State.
The city was forced to hire independent contractors to operate it
when the school went bankrupt.
Silver State was in the process of relocating its headquarters
from Las Vegas, NV to New Braunfels when it filed for Chapter 7
bankruptcy on February 4.
The bankruptcy also left the city holding the tab for $280,000
in fuel it had been buying on credit, unmade lease payments and
outstanding bills.
The city transferred $280,000 on June 16 to the airport fund out
of the general fund to make up for the financial shortfall.
“The airport is a self-sustaining entity,” said
Deborah Korinchock, the city’s chief financial officer.
“The city can’t legally operate (the airport) in the
red, so it was necessary to transfer those funds to make it whole
again.”
The New Braunfels City Council held a closed-door executive
session on June 9 to determine the options available in finding new
tenants.
An unnamed source said that at least one company has made a
preliminary offer to take over the hangar lease, operate the tower
and absorb all of the $280,000 debt.
Airport Director Andy Spinks said there were already as many as
seven tenants willing to take over the space.
Morrison anticipated that the city would send requests for
proposals in the next few weeks.