It's All About Money

Will the Lake Tahoe Airport continue to fly with a control tower? That's one of the critical questions to be posed to the South Lake Tahoe City Council at an upcoming meeting. The city's cost-sharing portion of its agreement with the FAA may almost double from the $120,000 South Lake Tahoe pays a contractor to watch air traffic between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. The hours were cut down to reduce costs, but the FAA has insisted the measure fails to go far enough.

"Given the fiscal problems facing the city, adding costs in this area will mean a decrease in expenditures elsewhere. There are no funds budgeted to make up the increased local share cost requested by the FAA," City Manager Dave Jinkens wrote in the staff report.

The contract between the city and Serco Management Services will expire by April 1, leaving the city with an imminent problem. Mayor Tom Davis has sent a flurry of letters to federal representatives in search of intervention.

"It's a safety issue. At least reducing the hours would be better than no hours," Davis said. "I'm still working on it. You know I don't give up easy."

The problem is further accentuated by the tower's importance at attracting commercial air service, which has been absent from the airport for about three years. The city contends that closing the tower "will hamper the efforts to bring commercial service" back to the airport, which the city supports with a $600,000 subsidy each year. There's been ongoing talk to find other ways the city may use the facility. One will emerge as the council plans to debate whether to move city offices to the airport, the site also slated for a planned visitors center. At no time in its 39-year history has the city been housed under the same roof. The city rents the council chambers and planning offices on 1900 Lake Tahoe Blvd. for $120,000 annually. This lease, which expires in February 2006, is expected to go up if renewed - prompting concern from city officials who see the building as a black hole fiscally.

FMI: www.laketahoeairport.com