Local officials approve $300K to air service fund

NORMAL – The Normal Town Council, Bloomington City Council and the McLean County Board approved money to add to the pool to draw an airline to Central Illinois Regional Airport.

The Normal Town Council was unanimous in its vote Monday afternoon. Councilman Adam Nielsen said communities are defined by the quality of air service these days.

“To a lot of economic problems, there aren’t simple solutions out there, but this has really presented itself as a very, very low-risk solution that will not only address the loss perhaps of a budget carrier, but perhaps provide additional service,” Nielsen said.

The $100,000 is coming from the town’s general fund reserves. Town staff said in a report to council members that it’s possible some of the money could be returned, but “it is probably safe to assume that the dollars invested now will likely not be returned.” Staff said that if the initiative is successful in attracting a new carrier, it would be considered an “outstanding investment.”

Coucilwoman Cheryl Gaines said this is not a situation where you can let the marketplace take care of itself.

“If we don’t have a viable airport here, businesses do not want to come here and some businesses may choose not to stay in the long run,” Gaines said. “That affects each and every one of us in our homes, because if we don’t have a good industry and commerce base then guess what, all of our property taxes and everything else is harmed.”

Councilman Chuck Scott said without a solid airport, it’s hard to draw new business to a community.

“Transportation in and of itself is the heart and soul of a community,” Scott said.

Councilwoman Sonja Reece said airport officials have done what they can, and now it’s up to the community to help.

“It’s so vital for the future of our development of the community, for the economic development aspects of it, for just the quality of life in general,” Reece said.

Councilman Jeff Fritzen said air travel is critical to the local economy.

“It’s great to have the opportunity to sit here and consider something like this that probably is going end up with us getting some increase service there and replacing some of what we’ve lost,” Fritzen said.

Councilman Jason Chambers says the community can’t hope to attract new or retain businesses unless the community has a vibrant airport.

“If we get on the slippery slope of declining ridership, if we don’t have a low fare carrier, other people’s rates are going to go up, that’s going to make it where people start looking at the other airports, it’s going to make ridership go down further and before you know it, we’re in the same situation as Decatur or Champaign’s airport,” Chambers said.

Bloomington okays funding

The Bloomington City Council voted 6-2 to approve the funding Monday night.

Alderman Rob Fazzini said the bottom line is savings for passengers.

“My calculations indicate that if we spend this $100,000, even if all of it is used, our citizens will benefit to the tune of $1.4 million,” he said.

Fazzini said his calculations are based on the fact that low-cost airlines keep other carriers’ fares low. With a low-cost carrier at CIRA, Fazzini said, other airlines would be forced to compete and keep their fares lower as well.

Aldermen Judy Stearns and Steven Purcell were against the investment.

Stearns thought a potential new airline should be able to asses its own risks. She instead suggested sticking to a free market attitude.

“I think this is setting a very bad precident,” she said. “What if another city comes up with more money? Are we just going to play a game of ante-up?”

Alderman Jennifer McDade echoed the council’s overall sentiment, saying the funding was key to maintaining CIRA’s viability.

“It is very hard to talk about economic development in this region and not have air travel and transportation in general be a part of that conversation,” she said.

Near-unanimous approval on the McLean County Board

Board member George Wendt was the sole holdout as the County Board also approved the funding Monday night.

Wendt’s biggest concern centered around the quick timeline for approving the money.

“This moves so fast. We went to a special meeting, so of course this information couldn’t get out to the public and so the public couldn’t get comments back to us,” he said.

Board Chairman Matt Sorensen said the airline industry inherently moves fast and CIRA didn’t want to miss a potential opportunity.

“Sometimes things just have to move fast for a lot of reasons. A lot of times, government doesn’t have to move fast but business does. If we want to be engaged in pro-business activities, we have to move fast too,” he said.

Wendt suggested sending the funding measure to the finance committee for further review, but his motion failed.

The board also questioned whether the funding was actually necessary. Sorensen said airport competition practically makes it a necessity.

“Our competitor airports are sweetening the pot, so to speak. If we’re not prepared to do that, even if an airline can make money, it’s good business for them to go somewhere where they can make a little more with an incentive or have a guarantee on the revenue side,” he said.

Chamber CEO Charlie Moore said the community needs to act now because it takes time for an airline to start service and less competition between carriers means higher ticket prices. AirTran is pulling out of CIRA in June.

When pressed for how many or which airlines are in talks for Bloomington, Moore would only say they’re willing to talk to anyone who wants to come to the table. Frontier Airlines was talked about last week, but officials said that’s just one possibility.

Stephanie Pawlowski can be reached at Stephanie@wjbc.com.

Paul Morello can be reached at paul@wjbc.com.