Airport presents balanced budget with capital projects; council agrees to proceed with planned parking and runway work

Redding Regional Airport and Benton Field staff presented a balanced FY26 budget built on conservative revenue forecasts, anticipated new air service, and grant-funded capital projects including runway work and a parking lot replacement; the council accepted the airport presentation.

Airports Manager Andrew Solsvig said staff used a zero-based review to sharpen revenue projections and reduce nonessential operating requests. The airport’s revenue mix includes aeronautical revenue, fuel-flowage fees, leases and concessions; staff also noted a potential parcel sale in FY27 as a one-time revenue source. Solsvig proposed modest fee schedule changes — for example, increasing the long-term parking daily rate from $10 to $12 and a possible fuel-flowage increase of one cent per gallon — to help cover rising operating costs and deferred maintenance.

Major capital projects include federally funded runway improvements (the majority of project costs covered by FAA and discretionary grants) with a local share to be funded by passenger facility charges rather than general fund dollars, and a $1.5 million parking-lot replacement project the airport proposes to finance with a 10-year city loan (an annual debt-service estimate of roughly $132,000 and a balloon payment at the end of the loan). Staff said the parking-lot loan and funding details will be returned for council consideration and that they are evaluating whether the new lot layout will yield more vehicle spaces within the same footprint.

The airport manager explained the airport’s capital and security needs, including security-camera replacement and taxi-lane repair at Benton Field, and emphasized the need to track and bill more consistently for land leases and aircraft movements via improved software. Staff said they plan to pursue license-plate recognition for parking enforcement and new aircraft-tracking software to close gaps in landing and overnight billing.

Council members asked about the revenue impact of air-service changes and the timeline for hangar development; staff said new routes can boost concession and rental revenues and that hangar development for private use would require developer-funded taxiway and pavement work and is likely two years out.

Votes at a glance - Motion: Accept the airports division budget presentation and suggest staff continue in this direction. Mover: Council member (mover). Outcome: approved unanimously.

Next steps: Airport staff will return with more detailed loan paperwork on the parking-lot project, continue pursuing federal grant funding for runway work, and proceed with software and security upgrades as funding allows.