City challenges budget request

EL DORADO — City officials vehemently challenged a 2017 budget request that would have granted pay raises for three employees at South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field ON Tuesday.

The request was not approved by the El Dorado City Council or its finance committee when the groups set the city budget several weeks ago.

Neither was it approved Tuesday when the finance committee gathered to discuss the matter with Mickey Murfee, chairman of the airport commission, and airport manager Tim Johnson.

City officials questioned the fairness of the request — which would have raised the salaries and wages lineitem in the airport budget from $130,330 (2016 actual numbers) to a projected $158,000 for 2017, citing a city budget crunch that prevented pay raises and other budget requests, such as new police cars, for other departments this year.

The proposed budget adjustment includes $15,460 for three full-time employees, plus $9,000 for part-time summer help.

Total expenditures for personnel services at the airport would have gone from $186,211 to $218,650.

During a finance committee meeting on Jan. 31, Alderman Billy Blann said he had heard from airport commissioners that the proposal for the pay raises had not been approved in the 2017 city budget.

Several city officials said then that they were not aware of the budget request, noting that the airport commission did not appear before the finance committee during 2017 budget talks as representatives from other city departments had.

Murfee said Tuesday that the commission never heard whether the request had been approved or disapproved.

“We went on the basis that it had been approved,” Murfee said.

He explained that commissioners abide by state law that spells out the powers and authority of municipal airport commissions.

Murfee pointed specifically to an Arkansas code that grants airport commissions “full and complete charge of the airport and its related properties and facilities, including the right to employ or remove any and all assistants and employees of whatsoever nature, kind of character to fix, regulate and pay their salaries.”

“We found out in January the line item had been changed. No one talked to Tim (Johnson) or me. We want to re-establish our line item in the budget so we can proceed with what we’ve been charged with by state law,” Murfee said.

He said the city has provided matching funds for state and federal grants that are used to pay for improvement projects at the SARA.

However, Murfee said, the money that covers salaries and to maintain and operate the facility comes from revenue that is generated by a number of sources at the airport, including fuel sales, rental fees for the corporate hangar, and leases for hangar space, timber, hay and hunting.

Additionally, Johnson noted that the airport came in under budget for 2016.

“I think we run a fully efficient place in terms of what we’ve been charged to do,” Johnson said.

He told city officials that the salary adjustments were based on a check of pay scales of other airports and fixed base operations (FBOs) around the state, including Hot Springs, Texarkana, North Little Rock and Harrison.

Murfee said the jobs performed by airport employees — including refueling and towing planes, mechanical knowledge, safety and emergency training — are technical and highly skilled.

Johnson noted that one full-time employee has worked at the airport for just over a year.

“Last week was the first time he’s been left alone, as far as the learning curve,” he said.

Hourly pay for the three full-time employees is $11.14, $10.63, and $10, and the increases would be $14, $14, and $11.50, respectively.

Fairness

In addition to a projected $1 million shortfall in the city’s general fund for 2017, city officials expressed concern Tuesday about a 50 percent drop in revenue from fuel sales at the airport in 2016, a decrease that was largely due to the loss of Essential Air Service provider SeaPort Airlines.

SeaPort was ordered to cease operations last September as part of a bankruptcy filing.

Johnson and Murfee said SeaPort stopped purchasing fuel from SARA in July 2016, three months before the airline was ordered to shutter.

Robert Edmonds, director of public works, said that while the airport came in underbudget for 2016, projected revenues, particularly for fuel sales, were not met.

Johnson said he based the 2017 budget on the sale of 600 gallons of fuel per day, telling city officials that Contour Airlines has committed to purchasing 750 gallons per day from the city’s FBO if an appeal to secure Contour as the city’s next EAS provider is approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The USDOT selected the Southern Airways Express as the next EAS provider for El Dorado.

Murfee and Johnson said Southern Airways is scheduled to begin operations on March 9, according to its website, offering flights to the FBO at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

“My concern is that it’s hard to project something that’s unknown,” Alderman Vance Williamson said.

“Our concern is also that of you’re a half a million dollars in the hole, plus $53,000 in (salary increases), where’s that going to come from? Is that a fair question?” Williamson asked.

Murfee agreed that the question was fair. “Doesn’t that make you nervous?” Williamson pressed.

Johnson said 40 to 50 percent of the airport's fuel sales come from commercial airline purchases.

“We’ve been profitable without an airline,” Johnson said.

When Edmonds pointed out that fuel sales were down 50 percent in 2016, Johnson said, “So are the corresponding expenses.”

As he did on Jan. 31, Hash said he did not think it was fair for some city employees to receive a pay hike while others cannot.

“You can’t say you have a different revenue stream. We’re all in this together. It’s not fair. I would compare what you do with what these folks in these two departments do 24/7 in all kinds of conditions,” Hash continued.

Alderman Dianne Hammond agreed, saying, “I just don’t see where it’s fair to other employees for of the city for three employees to get a 19 percent pay increase.”

Hash also said he didn’t think the comparisons of pay structures at other airports and FBOs were fair, adding that the other facilities are larger and/or have more traffic than the airport.

Johnson said similar duties are performed by airport employees, and the other airports have larger staffs.

In addition to matching funds for grants, Hash said the city has paid for other projects at the airport including a new air conditioner system in 2016.

“You’re far from self-sustaining out there,” Hash said.

Blann suggested that the matter be discussed with the full airport commission, saying that commissioners may not have been aware that they needed to present the budget request to the finance committee.

Referring to a financial report that was presented by Hammond at the start of the meeting, Williamson said that while yearto-date city sales tax revenues are tracking upward, a revenue trend has not yet been established for 2017.

He asked Murfee if the airport commission would revisit the request for pay raises.

“We’d be glad to go back and revisit our sources of revenue and other things,” Murfee said.