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MDOT official warns aeronautics capital program faces gap as Detroit Metro parking-tax bonds near retirement
Summary
Brian Buds, head of the Michigan Department of Transportation Aeronautics Division, told the House appropriation subcommittee that Detroit Metro’s off-site parking tax helps fund state airport capital projects and that debt tied to that tax is set to retire in about five years, threatening a gap in aeronautics funding.
Brian Buds, head of the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) Aeronautics Division, told the House appropriation subcommittee on state and local transportation on Oct. 27, 2025, that the department’s airport capital program depends on a mix of restricted revenues and federal grants, and that a key local revenue stream — an off-site parking tax tied to Detroit Metro Airport — will stop when related bonds retire in about five years.
Buds said the aeronautics fund is supported principally by several restricted revenue streams: a 3-cent-per-gallon aviation fuel excise tax, a package of registration and licensing fees (including aircraft registration), federal block grants routed through MDOT, and an off-site Detroit Metro airport parking tax. “Of the approximately $35,000,000 that’s generated from this airport parking tax, $6,000,000 of that comes to the department to support debt service on those bonds, which are set to retire in…
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