Airport operators ask Legislature to exempt privately owned runways, taxiways from local property tax

Tom Hurley, executive director of the Massachusetts Airport Management Association, told the Joint Committee on Revenue that H.3125 would remove property taxes on aviation infrastructure — specifically runways and taxiways — at privately owned public‑use airports while leaving non‑aviation portions of those properties subject to local taxation.

"This bill would eliminate the property taxes on those portions of those 10 airports that, that are privately owned," Hurley said. He said the bill targets the aviation portions of the airport properties and would not affect taxes on non‑aviation land or facilities held by the same owners.

Hurley said the association represents 39 public‑use airports across the state and identified ten privately owned public‑use airports named in testimony that the bill would affect. He described the airports as smaller facilities that supply public access to the National Airspace System, emergency services and community‑level aviation support. Committee members pressed Hurley on whether the resulting loss of local property tax revenue had been analyzed and on the variability of tax burdens across different municipalities; Hurley said the airports are individually distinct and that he would follow up with town‑specific revenue information.

Hurley said municipally owned airports or those owned by the Massachusetts Port Authority do not pay property taxes, and that this bill is intended to bring similar tax treatment to privately owned public‑use airports' aviation infrastructure. No formal committee action was taken at the hearing; Hurley said he would provide additional data on current tax payments and local revenue impacts on request.