Laramie airport reduces SPET request, asks $4 million for FAA match and critical repairs

Amy Terrell, speaking for the airport, told the council the airport still supports a hangar project but now requests $4,000,000 of SPET funding to be placed in a local match account for FAA projects and critical infrastructure work rather than tied to a single capital project. "What we'd like to do is attach it to our critical infrastructure and our match money," Terrell said. Terrell said the airport previously set aside COVID and CRRSA relief funds as local match for several FAA projects and used those reserves to buy a new fire truck, upgrade runway lighting to LED, complete pavement and crack-seal work and expand the Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting (ARFF) building. She described an apron project the airport has presented to the FAA and the state with an estimated total cost of about $9,200,000, and said the airport’s local match for that apron project would be about $285,094. Terrell told council that the apron project — the area where commercial and general aviation aircraft park in front of the terminal and fixed-base operator — would deplete the airport’s match account, and that the $4,000,000 request would re-establish a match fund to carry the airport through projects to 2035. Why it matters: FAA grants typically require a local match; without set-aside match funds the airport risks delaying federally funded projects. Allowing SPET dollars to be used as a match account affects how the city defines an eligible project and how those dollars would be managed. What was said and not decided: Terrell said the airport "would like to change our ask from $9,000,000 to $4,000,000." Councilors asked clarifying questions but took no separate vote on the airport’s request; the airport’s $1,500,000 allocation later appears on the council’s adopted SPET priority list as "Laramie Regional Airport support." Staff and legal notes: Terrell said FAA and state approval processes use priority rating systems for projects, and she described local match accounting that allowed the airport to remain in compliance with federal requirements. The city and council discussed whether SPET rules would permit funds to be held as an airport match account; staff later noted the need for legal review on certain endowment or long-term-holding arrangements for other projects. Ending: The airport reduced its formal SPET ask and asked the council to allow SPET funds to be set aside for airport match and critical infrastructure; the council included $1.5 million for airport support in the final, adopted city priority list.