The governing bodies of Scotts Bluff County and Western Nebraska Regional Airport have come to an agreement in principle to work toward an arrangement in which the airport would help pay for some if not all of their property insurance costs.
Since the inception of the Airport Authority, the County has picked up the tab, but with several recent storm damage events, and a rapid increase in premiums, county commissioners have been looking for a way to ease the impact on the county’s budget.
Discussions of public access benefits versus strictly airport operations, and airport income and expenses dominated discussion at a joint meeting Wednesday, with County Board member Charlie Knapper likening the discussion to that of raising a young adult. “”Just to kind of go with your analogy of ‘dad pays the car insurance, but the kid pays the gas.’ You know, a good dad will tell you, okay, at age 26 or age 24, you’re now responsible for the insurance. And so I think that’s where we need to head,” said Knapper.
The county’s most recent insurance premium involving airport buildings would amount to about seven percent of the airport’s operating budget according to Director Raul Aguallo, which he said wasn’t something they completely absorb, at least in the current fiscal environment.
County Board Chair Ken Meyer said addressing the subject was not an attempt to hamstring the airport and its operations.
“I think there’s a way that we can do this that’s not going to tie you guys up so bad that you can’t do the things you need to do in your budget. It’s going to loosen up some money for our budget that we can maybe do some more things that we’ve not been able to do,” said Meyer. “And yes, it all comes out of the same pocket, but we’re also challenged by where we’re going to spend that much. So we divide it up a little here. We do the same thing, portion it out. That’s all. That’s all we’re asking.”
Both boards agreed keeping the airport under the county’s insurance was the best option on cost, and subcommittees would hammer out details on potential self-insurance for some property, and how much the airport could start contributing to outside insurance on an extended timeline of several years.
