Yellowstone Regional Airport seeks county operating support and approach-study funds; commissioners take no immediate action

Heron Buck, director of Yellowstone Regional Airport, asked Park County commissioners to reconsider a local funding request for airport operations and an approach/departure study for fiscal year 2025-26, summarizing recent revenue losses and a growing need for local support to maintain operations and complete a safety-and-access study.

Buck said the airport had previously requested a 60/40 split of local support under the joint-powers agreement, which historically called for shared local funding for operations and capital. In the current request the airport asked for $33,333 toward annual operating support and $16,000 toward an approach-departure study (the airport's materials also showed a larger operating ask and a multi-year study cost). Buck told the board the airport had not received local support since 2020 and has been using reserve funds that were partially built from CARES/ARPA-era receipts; he said the airport anticipates losing a significant grant stream and running a structural deficit that could exhaust reserves in less than four years without local assistance.

Buck said the approach/departure study is intended to lower approach minimums for aircraft and allow larger payloads for arriving and departing aircraft; that change could increase reliability and economic activity for the community by making aircraft operations possible in marginal weather. He said AIP (federal Airport Improvement Program) funding supports runway and lighting projects but does not cover building maintenance or some operations. Commissioners asked about the airport's reserves, prior CARES/ARPA funding, and whether a LOMA-like solution existed for floodplain permit questions; they also asked about the joint-powers agreement language describing a 60/40 local sharing arrangement for capital and operating support and whether the airport's requested items were capital or operations.

Commissioners said they could not make an immediate commitment because the county budget had been adopted and an amendment would be required to add the requested local support. They requested more detailed budget materials and indicated they would review the joint-powers agreement and the airport's materials but did not vote on a funding request.

Buck thanked the board and said he would provide the additional documentation requested by county staff.