Council OKs cooperation with Dexter, Old Town
CARIBOU, Maine — While the city’s request for an NBRC (Northern Border Regional Commissioner) grant for a 6 bay T-Hangar at the local airport was turned down, the Caribou City Council recently voted to enter a cooperative agreement with the towns of Old Town and Dexter to continue the project.
According to City Manager Austin Bleess, the agreement would allow Caribou to use $150,000 in FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) funds from each municipality, with the promise of paying back Dexter in 2018 and Old Town in 2019.
Since Caribou has approximately $280,000 in FAA funds available for this project, their local share will be roughly $30,000, which is currently sitting in their airport reserve account.
“We could rent the hangar space for approximately $150 per spot per month,” said Bleess. “If we’re able to rent out five spots all year round, which seems likely based on demand, we would be able to generate $7,500 in revenue for the city. We would be making another step forward in reducing the reliance of the airport on property taxes.”
The city manager continued to explain that last month’s hail storm produced “significant damage to five aircraft parked on the ramp,” which highlights a need for aircraft owners to rent the space.
According to Bleess, these funds will likely result in the construction of a 6 bay T-Hangar, and the entire project’s cost is about $600,000.
Since the project uses up all of Caribou’s FAA funds for the present year as well as the next two, Mayor Gary Aiken asked if there are any upcoming projects within that time frame which may require that money.
“The only thing I see us needing that for is the new hangar project,” said Blesss. “The next project after the hangar is a fuel terminal station for 2021 tentatively. So we are fine utilizing the funds in this way.”
“Are these trade-offs typical?” Councilor David Martin asked. “Is this done often?”
“It happens, I don’t know how frequently,” the city manager said. “I know of a couple airports across the state that have done this within the last few years.”
Moving forward, the city will be working with an airport consultant and engineers. Construction is tentatively slated to begin in late 2018.
