Griffith takes another look at absorbing airport

A potential partnership between the town of Griffith and the Griffith-Merrillville Airport is back in play, and the Griffith Town Council is seeking residents’ input.

The council announced Feb. 16 at its council meeting its plans to form an advisory committee to study the impact of absorbing the airport into town and is asking residents to apply for a spot on it.

The town first entertained the notion in May 2018, when airport owner Paul Goldsmith and Craig Anderson, director and vice president of Griffith Aviation, approached the town about the possibility, the Post-Tribune previously reported. Anderson said at the time that new regulations have all but dried up any funds it had been getting from the state and Federal Aviation Administration.

“The main issue we’ve had over the last three, three and a half years is that the Federal Aviation Administration has been slowly cutting off funding to our improvements fund. This year, all the funding was completely cut off,” Anderson said. “Now, the FAA has been pushing for us to look for a municipal sponsorship.”

The council in 2018 voted 5-0 to enter into a services contract with Indianapolis law firm Norris

Choplin Schroeder, which specializes in aviation, to study the feasibility.

The town paid $2,612.97 for that firm’s services in 2018. Then in February 2019, it approved a contract not to exceed $5,250 with Robert Thomson, the senior director of finance and treasurer of the Indianapolis Airport Authority to conduct a financial analysis of whether the town can feasibly enter into a partnership with the airport.

One of the town’s bigger concerns, according to Town Council President Rick Ryfa, R-3rd, at the time, was if the town could absorb the airport without raising property taxes.

Any Griffith resident interested in signing up for the advisory committee should apply to hrrecruiting@griffith.in.gov, Ryfa said.

Once one of 17 general aviation airports, Anderson said GriffithMerrillville still remains busy, logging between 60,000 and 65,000 flights per year, the PostTribune reported in 2018. The airport also contracts with the Civil Aviation Flight School of China to provide its students with flight hours.

According to its website, the 122-acre airport opened in 1962. The Lake County Sheriff’s helicopter unit is also stored at the airport.