Airport seeks supervisors’ help in landing a jet
By MIKE WILLIAMS
Patriot Publishing
New River Valley Airport Commission Chairman Nick Glenn wants a jet. Not necessarily for himself, but rather for the airport. However, he’ll need Pulaski County’s help if he is to land that prized high-value jet.
Glenn spoke to the Pulaski County Board of Supervisors on Monday, reminding the board of the high quality of the NRV Airport and to ask for the board’s help in setting a new local aircraft tax rate with which to attract a jet to be based at NRVA.
“I’ve been at the airport for 42 years, representing the town of Pulaski, and I’ve been the chairman of the commission for 37 years,” Glenn told the board. “Tonight I come with two purposes: one to tell you about the quality of your airport, and you have a high-quality airport with a 6,200 foot by 150 foot runway. Few of those in the state. We are the ninth largest runway in the entire Commonwealth. Out of 65 airports, we are the ninth largest.”
Glenn continued that the airport has state-of-the-art precision approach equipment and an ILS (Instrument Landing System.)
“That is a major asset to an airport. Very few airports even have such a system, but we do. We have two maintenance shops. We have excellent conditions at the airport, and we have a lot of developable land, which most of our competitors in the market do not have – land available to build new hangars. We do,” he said.
New River Valley Airport is owned by the NRV Airport Commission, which is comprised of Pulaski County, Montgomery County, Giles County, City of Radford, Town of Dublin, Town of Pulaski and Town of Christiansburg.
“I could go on and on about the wonderful asset at the airport, but tonight I came for a different reason, I need something from the county to secure the safety and security in the future of your airport because you own 52 percent of it. And what I need is a consideration of a new tax rate for aircraft,” Glenn explained. “A more competitive tax rate to attract jets.”
In Pulaski County, local aircraft are taxed under the county’s personal property tax rate of $2.35 per $100 of assessed value. Other airports in the region have tax rates for aircraft that are much lower. For instance, aircraft in Montgomery County and at Virginia Tech are taxed at a rate of $1.23. Mountain Empire in Smyth County has a $1.40 tax rate. Roanoke has a rate of $1.06, and Mount Airy/Surry County in North Carolina has a rate of only 51 cents per $100 of assessed value.
“We have not, in our 65 years of existence, got a single jet at New River. If I can get one jet, I automatically qualify for an additional $150,000 in grant money from the Federal Aviation Administration. That’s every year. Right now, we’re leaving that money on the table because we do not have the jet.”
Glenn said the airport has the commitment of one jet to come to the airport, but only under the condition that the issue of the taxes is addressed.
“First, the tax rate. Your (county) tax rate is $2.35. Virginia Tech, for example, is $1.23. Big difference,” Glenn said, adding the airport also needs tax brackets to attract high-value jets.
Glenn noted the competition is picking up.
“Other airports are seeing the same thing we are, and I would almost guarantee you that within two to three years from tonight’s meeting, other airports will start to look at a bracketed tax schedule for high-value jets, because the jets are the key to getting federal funding.
“One of the key things that’s going to happen is sometime in the next 15 to 20 years we are going to be due for a runway rehabilitation. The last one was done in 2010 and cost approximately $6 million. The next one will probably run somewhere in the area of about $30 million,” Glenn explained.
“Now, what’s going to happen is if we do not have a jet at the airport, and hopefully multiple jets, they (Feds) are going to take that 150-foot-wide runway and they’re going to shrink it down to 100, effectively taking away one-third of your pavement. We’re going to go from 930,000 square feet down to 620,000, and there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about that.
“We’re working on the taxiway projects as we speak, and they’re already reducing my width from 50 feet to 35. Now, to a small aircraft owner with a Cessna, 35 feet is fine. But, to the big C-130 that was used at the opening game for Virginia Tech three weeks ago, he prefers that 50 foot, and he certainly prefers the 150 foot width of the runway to land that larger aircraft. So, the airport desperately needs this. The county desperately needs this.”
Glenn noted the cost to the county is virtually nothing.
“We’re not asking for a contribution, not a penny,” Glenn said.
What the airport commission is asking for, he said, is the establishment of a committee to come together and within 90 days come back with a tax rate and tax brackets for local aircraft and a jet.
“And once you’ve done that, you can release your economic developer to go to people and say ‘we’ve got a top-notch airport, and we can give you a tax rate that will attract you to bring your jet,’” Glenn told the board.
“Without the jets, we will effectively lose your airport,” Glenn stressed. “Now, the airport will still be sitting at Dublin, it’s not going to disappear. But the effective asset value of that airport will be dramatically reduced when you lose that much runway and other assets. Because one thing about the ILS, that is a system that is run by the Federal Aviation Administration, and we figure it’s costing them about $80,000 a year. They could easily pull that if they so desired. They’re looking for ways to cut, and I want us to avoid that.”
Glenn said the time to move on the tax issue is now since it will likely take five to ten years to convince someone to consider basing their jet at New River.
“They’re being courted by other airports, or they’re already at the other airports, and they don’t have a reason to leave. We’ve got to give them an incentive, just like you do with any new industry coming into the area. You give them incentives to bring those jobs and everything into this area. You have a wonderful asset, and we have fought for that asset ever since I’ve been there, and we fought with the FAA and the state and localities and everything about everything imaginable.”
Glenn noted that NRV Airport has an advantage over other airports.
“My advantage is I’ve got the longer runway, I’ve got the wider runway, and I’ve got space to put in the hangars, because people that own $15 million jets don’t park them out on the tarmac. They want to put them in a hangar, and those hangars can run $2 million to $3 million or more. A $2 million hangar will bring real estate tax to the county of $14,800 at your current tax rate of 74 cents, but your $2.35 cent tax on the aircraft, even with the accelerated depreciation that the county uses, is just not hacking it because I still don’t have a jet. After 65 years, we still don’t have a jet. It doesn’t cost you a thing to bring it here – not a thing, other than a new tax rate and a bracket that makes a jet owner say, ‘I can afford to put my plane here.’ That’s all,” Glenn closed.
Board Chairman Laura Walters followed Glenn and read a statement in which she disqualified herself from participation in the board’s consideration of the issue because her husband owns an aircraft that could be subject to any new tax rate.
“I would like to ask our staff to work with Nick and get some plans, and then we might be able to decide to do something or not do something,” Walters said.