It was recently brought to my attention that my previous post about the City’s decision to discontinue the Charlottetown Airport’s grant in lieu of property taxes did not sit well with certain people, particularly the Board of Directors of the Airport Authority. I have to admit, after reading that short entry again, it does sound unnecessarily flippant or cheeky. That was not my intention. It was meant to be a simple statement of fact, and the brevity was more to do with time constraint than anything else (You may have noticed there have been very few updates on this site recently — I’ve been very busy.)
What I said was true — one of the factors Council considered when we made our decision was the apparent success the airport has achieved over the last four or five years. The City’s budget process was very challenging this year with the property tax assessment freeze, among other factors, making it necessary to review all of our expenditures. Grants in particular, having reached a million dollars annually, were scrutinized closely. Dozens of non-profit groups depend on the City for operating revenue each year. Many have no other source of revenue than grants, subsidies, and donations, and in many cases they serve the most vulnerable in our City — seniors, the disabled, youth at risk. In the end, there were very few who did not receive less than in years past.
All things considered, the consensus of Council (unanimous if I recall correctly) was that the Charlottetown Airport had weathered the difficult transition after Transport Canada handed small airports to independent local authorities. Unlike many grant recipients, Council felt the airport was a successful commercial operation with access to growing streams of revenue. There was also some discussion of the fact that Charlottetown was foregoing a significant amount of revenue for what is, in effect, a regional airport. It serves the entire province but, to my knowledge at least, Charlottetown was the only municipality contributing significantly to its bottom line.
I never meant to suggest that the Airport Authority was flaunting its success, and we therefore pulled their grant. Absolutely not. I think all Islanders are very proud of the airport’s recent success and improved service, and we all feel that pride each time we read about new passenger records. But those announcements created a perception on Council that perhaps the City’s assistance was no longer required. That perception may not be reality. I realize the air transport industry is extremely volatile.
The City has only served notice of intent to opt out of our agreement with the Airport Authority. They will not begin paying taxes for two years, if I recall correctly. If the City’s decision significantly threatens the longterm success of the airport’s operations, I expect they will be approaching Charlottetown, the Province, and other municipalities, to negotiate some other type of arrangement. I would suggest, in the remaining two years of the agreement, that they come to Council, as many other grant recipients and applicants do annually, to inform us why our assistance is important to them. It’s probably best if we’re not making decisions based on media stories, but in the absence of that communication we may have nothing better to go on.
I want to apologize for upsetting people with my previous comments. Blogging and politics can be a dangerous mix. Occasionally I tend not to be as guarded with my comments as when I’m speaking to “real” media. There was no ill intent, but clearly my comments should have been accompanied by some further explanation. And lastly, I’m willing to discuss this issue — with an open mind — with representatives of the Airport Authority at any time.
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