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Wilhelmi to commissioners: Go for airport plan!
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
One after another, Augusta
Regional Airport Master Plan
proponents got up to face the
County Commission to plead
the plan’s case. One after an
other, the commissioners
brought the discussion back to
one question:
What if wecan’t pay foritall?
The concern hinged on the
fact that much of the work will
be funded with revenue bonds,
which would be paid off with
money made from ticket sales.
The number of dollars needed
requiresridershiptomorethan
triple in the next 20 years.
Commissioner Ulmer Bridges
addressed his question to Mike
Moroney, a consultant with
Black and Veatch, the firm
which developed the master
plan. “If our ridership falls off
and we're not able to pay the
bonds off,” Bridges asked,
“what happens then?”
Moroney tried to reassure
him. “The bond holder has the
first lien on airport revenue. If
no revenue's there, he has a
lien against nothing. Now the
realityis, airport revenue bonds
have been used in the United
States since 1954. They’re ex
tremely common. Todate, there
has not been a single default on
airport revenue bonds.”
Bridges was not satisfied that
his concern had been addressed.
“Thequestionis, what happensif
we should not have the revenue
in order to pay these bonds off?”
Moroney began then to ex
plain about the “revenue bond
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indenture” which the county
couldadopt, and whichrequires
acounty with a bond in default
to get an “airport consultant of
national repute” to make up a
recovery plan.
“You're still in default, but
you have a plan to cure it,”
Moroney said. “Typically, as
long as...theoretically, as long
as the plan to cure it is being
followed, bondholders don’t
have recourse to the airport
proprietor or to the county.”
Bridges then turned to
county attorney Jim Wall, to
ask, should the ridership not
reach the growth projected by
the plan, if the county’s other
revenue sources, such as the
Special Purpose Local Option
Sales Tax (SPLOST) funding,
Candidate Mays speaks out at District 9 political forum
By Rhonda Jones
AUGUSTA FOCUS Staff Writer
AUGUSTA
Most Augustans probably
don’t know that District 9
Commissioner Willie Mays
w ears a lucky tie and skids
into the Board of Elections
office at the very last mo
ment during qualifying week.
Or that he carries two sets of
business cards: regular ones
for the gentlemen...but for
the ladies, he keeps a set of
scented cards in a case next
to his heart.
Likewise, many Augustans
arenot old enough to remem-
property taxes or the like be
held liable to pay them off.
Wall assured him those
sources would not be touched.
“Theonly thingthat you pledge
(with a revenue bond) is the
revenue stream from the air
port itself. No municipality
wants any of its bonds to fail or
to be called in default. At that
point, it’s a political decision
andafinancial decision whether
or not the city wants to step in
to avoid default, but you’re not
obligated to.”
Though Aviation Commis
sionreps and consultants tried
to make the pill sweeter, sev
eralon thecommission, andthe
mayor as well, still weren’t sure
they wanted to swallow it.
Mayor Bob Young wanted to
ber an Augusta government
without him. He was first
elected in 1979 to the old city
council, and he was involved
in his family’s mortuary,
which he now runs, way be
fore that.
Andtheywon’thavetoimag
ine it any time soon, because
the District 9 incumbent has
no challenger,
Onthe night of Oct. 22, right
after the Chamber of Com
merce Candidate Forum, Au
gusta Focus finally came up
with a question that sturaped
the dapper commissioner:
Just who s Willie Mays?
For several moments, he
know if the city’s bond rating,
which he says is good right
now, would be hurt if such a
revenuebondwent intodefault.
“No. The city is a different
human being. It’s a different
human being.” Maroney said
he wasn’t aware of an airport
bond that had ever gonebad,but
there have been other munici
pal issued revenue bonds in
which thecity had steppedin to
keep thecity’sname frombeing
tarnished.
Aviation chairwoman Marcie
Wilhelmi said, whatever risk is
there, it’s worth it.
She showed off a copy of the
Airport Layout Plan, created in
1974, which is very similar to
the plan now being proposed.
Shesaidit isamazingwhentwo
didn’t know what to say. “I
think, other than beingalittle
heavier than the kid that used
to have the big afro back in
1979, I tried to stay generally
the same person: To be honest
with people at all times, to
fight my battles clearly on the
issues, to try to listen to the
needs of my constituents. And
many times that gets you on
controversial grounds.”
He says he likes to be around
people, having come from a po
litical family, and feels it is
important tostay in touch with
all segments of the community.
And he is thankful for the
family business, Mays Mortu
a 0 .
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An Independent Voice . “
COMMISSIONER - DISTRICT 1
November 6, 2001
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AUGUSTA FOCUS
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consultants agree, much less
thefourthat the Aviation Com
mission havetalked to,whoare
allinagreement that a midfield
terminal and parallel runways
ary. “It gave mea certain sense
of independence that I could
speak out on a lot of issues,”
he said.
One issue he spoke out on
that night was what to do
about the Airport Master Plan
that the Airport Commission
has been talking up to the
County Commission. Mays said
the county should move for
ward on plans to redesign Au
gusta Regional Airport, he said,
giving kudos to Aviation Com
mission chairwoman Marcie
Wilhelmi for her aggressive
approach. “If she had been
sitting down doing nothing,
then there would be nothingto
OCTOBER 25, 2001
Consultant
Mike
Moroney
of Black &
Veatch
addresses
the city
panel. Pholo
by Rhonda Jone
“For us as an airport com
mission to pursue any othe:
alternative would be tanta
mount to malfeasance,’
Wilhelmisaid.
mention and nothingtowrite i
about.
“You’ve got a ton of FAA '
money that’s there. I think
with the properlobbying and
administrations in place, [
think we’re going after mon
ies, particularly discretion
ary funds that Augustabasi |
cally just took a benign ne- ’
glect attitude about, never !
really went after it.
“You cando things aggres
sively and see what happens,” |
he said, “or sit and wait.” '
Augusta’s population m"
200,000 did manage tosend a
representative citizen to the %
forum. i
3A