Feds Demand More Than $13.3 Million From Maryland Town
The idea sounded like a good one back in the 1980s. That's when
Ocean City (MD) and the FAA teamed up to buy a golf course and turn
it into an airport. Much of the purchase price came in the form of
FAA grants. Now, almost 20 years later, golfers are still teeing up
at the Eagle's Landing Municipal Golf Course and the FAA figures
it's time for the city to make good on its promises.
Namely, Ocean City leaders agreed when they went in on the land
deal to put 10% of the golf course revenue in a fund for
improvements to the adjacent airport. That apparently hasn't been
happening. Further, the airport was supposed to grow using land
from the golf course. Indeed, city officials agreed to renovate the
airport and lengthen two runways. But a committee dedicated to
airport projects steered the growth in a different direction, away
from the golf course. Now, the city owns a golf course that the FAA
paid for and the Feds, 20 years later, want an accounting. And they
want $13.3 million dollars paid into a fund for development of the
Ocean City Airport. If the town doesn't come up with both, by April
10th, the FAA says the whole matter will be sent to the Department
of Transportation's Inspector General for a thorough review.
That's probably a lot like being audited by the IRS. Only worse.
The money demanded by the IRS by early next month amounts to more
than a quarter of the city's entire budget, according to the Ocean
City Dispatch.
"I don't know where this hammer came down from," Councilman Jim
Hall told the paper, "[and] I don't know where it's going to end
up."
That's pretty indicative of the response from Ocean City's mayor
and city council members. They believed they'd settled the issue
last year. That's when the town and the FAA met on whether to
designate much of the golf course a "buffer zone," aimed at
reducing noise in nearby neighborhoods. As far as the town's
elected leaders were concerned, that solved the problem. But last
week, the FAA indicated otherwise.
"Based on the information available, it is the FAA's
determination that the Town of Ocean City has not adhered to the
interim agreement," wrote FAA Airports Division Manager William
Flanagan. If Ocean City doesn't pay $13.3 million into the airport
fund and provide a strict accounting of golf course revenues for
the past six years, the FAA says it will not only send the matter
to the DOT Inspector General, but will cut off all grant money
earmarked for Ocean City -- between $100,000 and $500,000 a
year.
Now, Ocean City leaders are wondering if having an airport is
worth all the hassle. Mayor Jim Mathias wrote in reply to the FAA's
demand letter, "The lack of a workable solution may force the town
to ponder the future of the airport."
Speaking to the Dispatch earlier in the week, Mathias said,
"There's got to be a reasonable place here." But just where the
city and the FAA might find room to compromise remains to be
seen.