Wasilla sets Oct. 12 hearing on airport master plan that recommends higher lease rates

The Wasilla City Council introduced a 20-year master plan for Wasilla Municipal Airport Monday. The plan recommends raising leaseholder rates and tying future increases to inflation. The council set a public hearing for Oct. 12.

Leaseholders have paid 6 cents a square foot for decades, a city official said. Adopting the plan would not change rates on its own. A specific rate proposal will come to the council separately.

Alaska News previously covered the council pulling the plan from introduction on Sept. 14. Members spent about 35 minutes reviewing it Monday in Committee of the Whole with HDL Engineering Consultants, the firm that wrote the plan.

The FAA won't fund a project that isn't on the airport layout plan included in the master plan, said Mark Swenson, principal owner of HDL. The city official said adopting the plan commits no current or future council to any spending.

Council Member Ian Crafton called the proposed 4-cent increase "pretty steep compared to what we have right now."

The city official said businesses have generally supported a higher rate, while private leaseholders have not. New rates would phase in as leases reach their five-year renewals. He said the current budget already assumed the higher rates, and without them the airport will fall short of budgeted revenue.

Council Member Timothy Johnson raised what he called minor concerns about how the plan presents the airport's finances, which show a loss of about $1 million a year, mostly depreciation. He said taxpayers seeing that figure might question whether the airport is the best use of their money. Johnson asked that the plan also describe the airport's economic value. City staff said accounting rules require the depreciation on about $16 million in assets.

The city official also disputed a local news report that put the runway expansion at $240 million, saying it applied the plan's full cost to the runway alone. Swenson said federal grants typically cover 93.75% of an eligible project, with the city paying the rest.

Council Member Cathy Cottle praised the plan's financial options. "I really like recommending annual inflation increases in the lease agreements," Cottle said.