Council authorizes draft agreement to stabilize airport cash flow and backs a resolution to seek airport27s inclusion in Port of the Plains

The North Platte City Council on Aug. 5 authorized city administration to draft an agreement to provide prorated monthly advances of the North Platte Regional Airport Authority's annual property-tax request and later adopted a separate resolution recommending that Lincoln County explore including part of the North Platte Regional Airport within the boundaries of the Nebraska Inland Port (Port of the Plains).

Councilmember Lucas moved to authorize drafting an agreement described as a transfer of funds with a fee set at approximately 3% per annum; the motion was seconded and approved. Council discussion centered on whether the transaction would be a transfer the city makes on behalf of the authority (with a modest fee to cover foregone interest) or an actual loan; city staff and auditors advised a treatment approximating the city's average interest returns (about 2.9–3.25%) as an administrative fee so the airport avoids higher commercial borrowing costs. The draft agreement will be returned to the council for formal approval after legal and accounting details are finalized.

Lincoln County Commissioner Chris Brunz explained the resolution seeking county consideration to include a portion of the airport in a Port of the Plains district. "There was a small group of individuals here locally...we worked on an amendment that allowed some noncontiguous area of a port district to be incorporated into the main port district up to 15 miles away," Brunz said, describing statutory changes that permit inclusion of noncontiguous parcels. Brunz urged stakeholder cohesiveness among the airport authority, the inland port authority and the City of North Platte before county action and listed next steps including a meets-and-bounds survey and review by the Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Dan Phelps, president of the North Platte Airport Authority, told the council the airport hired HDR Engineering to study buildable areas at the east end of town and identified a triangular site (about 84 acres, with the option to expand by about 41 acres) as a logical location for aviation-related development, such as air-cargo warehouses that could integrate with existing taxiways and road access near Highway 30. Phelps noted the airport's 8,000-foot runway, customs capability and rail/truck nexus as assets for air-cargo development.

Council discussion included who would own land inside any future port district (Brunz suggested the airport authority should likely retain ownership of airport land within the footprint), the need for an operating agreement between the inland port authority and the airport authority, and the required county survey and state-level approvals.

Council adopted the resolution recommending the county consider inclusion of the described airport area within the Port of the Plains boundaries. The measure does not itself change ownership or land use; it directs the county process to review statutory steps, surveys and stakeholder agreements.