Audit faults state aviation agency

The Maryland Aviation Administration failed for nearly a decade to comply with federal noise compatibility requirements, which kept the state from recouping $4.6 million in sound insulation costs, state auditors reported last week.

Those costs were instead passed on to airlines and passengers, the state Office of Legislative Audits said.

The MAA, which operates BaltimoreWashington International Thurgood Marshall Airport and Martin State Airport in Middle River, had $12.4 million in untouched federal money available as of September 2015 for sound insulation and acquisition of properties.

The Federal Aviation Administration reimburses 80 percent of the costs of eligible projects, but the MAA told auditors it had such difficulty complying with the federal reimbursement requirements that it suspended its noise compatibility program in 2012. The state spent $5.7 million on the program between 2003 and 2012.

The MAA said more than half of the $4.6 million couldn’t have been recouped, either because the work was performed outside federally designated areas or the state could not properly document the work.

The MAA requested the rest — $1.9 million — but was denied in October 2015 because the state had not performed required pre-construction and post-construction noise-level testing.

The costs were recovered instead from airline landing fees, auditors said.

“[R]ather than requiring the airlines to absorb these costs, MAA should be more diligent in complying with program requirements which would allow it to use the federal funding available,” auditors wrote.

The $12.4 million remains in an escrow account established in 2008. The FAA changed its noise compatibility program that year, and required the state to sell excess land bought with federal funds and put the money into the account for the program.

Auditors said the MAA did not always procure vehicle and equipment maintenance services through competitive processes or use available state contracts, and had record-keeping deficiencies.

The agency said it is awaiting new guidelines from the FAA that will govern sound insulation programs and requirements to obtain money for them, and will develop new procedures once the guidelines are published.