Airport Authority seeks roughly $216,000; council approves annual allocation

Ron Meyer, chair of the Sydney Airport Authority, and George Lapisotis, the airport manager, presented the authority’s annual budget request to the council on Aug. 4 and asked the council to approve the allocation included in resolution 20250703. Meyer said the authority’s request was about $216,000 for the year; the figure stated in the meeting audio was unclear but described verbally as roughly two hundred sixteen thousand dollars. The request is lower than last year, Meyer said, because the authority has retired some debt and continues to pay down a no‑interest loan used to construct an eight‑plane hangar completed in December. Meyer told the council the airport used a mix of federal grant funds and state no‑interest loan money for that project. Airport manager George Lapisotis described operations: fuel sales have grown from about 60,000 gallons to more than 100,000 gallons a year over the past decade; the airport handles roughly 1,800 landings annually; last year it had more than 100 hangar rentals; and the airport employs three people on staff. The airport hosts transient traffic, private charters, medical flights, and occasional military parachute operations that may stay overnight; Lapisotis said the field can accommodate many small- to mid-size jets and has an 80‑by‑100 foot hangar for transient shelter. He also said an aviation maintenance training program at WNCC is expanding enrollment from 18 students to a projected 35–45 students. Meyer said the authority recently renewed the manager’s contract and extended it for another five years; the airport will continue routine maintenance and planned capital work while reducing debt. Council members voted to approve the airport allocation as presented in the resolution. Discussion versus action: the presentation informed the budget vote; the council approved resolution 20250703 to allocate funds to the Airport Authority; no additional conditions were imposed in the motion.