Representatives from Scotland County, the city of Laurinburg, the town of Maxton and state representatives Doug Yongue and Garland Pierce heard presentations from the airport commission, state department of transportation officials and a hired lobbyist on sparse funding options.
Paul Davis, airport director, gave a presentation on the proposed $19.2 million dollar runway rehab project that would keep the runway operational.
The runway, built in 1943, is in such bad shape that debris known as FOD is building up on the runway, according to aviation officials.
FOD is a general term for matter that could damage aircraft, in this case actual pieces of the runway as it decays.
Officials said that some pilots are choosing not to land at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport because of potential damage to their aircraft.
Davis said that the Golden Knights, the army parachute team, primarily uses the secondary runway for their jumps because it is in better condition.
He also said that people have to sweep the runway every day to keep FOD from becoming a serious problem.
The runway can stay operational for a while longer, but with business already being lost, with military contractors hesitant to come to a sub-par air base, and with a limited life span for the aging runway, Davis believes it is important to act quickly to save the airport.
"It will take years to get the money together," Davis explained. He said the nearly $20 million sum would need to come from multiple sources, both state and federal, with a combination of grants and earmarks.
DOT officials emphasized the importance of the airport for the local economy.
Dave Thomas, a DOT representative, made the case with an economic impact study from 2006.
"The total number of jobs that are impacted by the airport in 2006 was 322 with an economic impact per year of $34 million dollars - that is based on a payroll of about $7 million," Thomas said. "You've a lot of jobs in the area that are impacted by the fact that we have an airport out there ... You have a a lot of things going on in this area from what's going on at the airport."
Thomas added that the impact saw a 1643 percent increase between 1996 and 2005 on an investment of around $2.7 million dollars. He noted that investments in airports nearly always returns more than the initial investment.
Dion J. Viventi, airport project manager for DOT, said that the state did not have the money for the project. North Carolina gets an aviation allocation of $15 million dollars from the federal government - less than the overall cost of the project - and often times a lot of it is appropriated through earmarks. A total of 30 percent of this year's budget was earmarked for specific airports.
What is left is divided between 70 airports around the state and pay administrative costs, Viventi said. This leaves state aviation officials with little money to back big projects.
He went on to say that many airports take their $150,000 mandated appropriation and save it up over several years to pay for big projects. It would take 128 years of saving to get 19.2 million dollars.
The Federal Aviation Administration has money available for runways, but only up to 60,000 pounds per two wheels capacity. The runway needs to be 210,000 pounds to meet the needs of its potential military and commercial clients.
Despite being number three on the state DOT's list of aviation priorities for grants, the FAA has passed up the local airport for the past several years.
There is some hope, according to Diventi.
"We got a verbal commitment (from FAA officials) to pay half, if the airport can find matching money," Diventi said.
Getting $10 million may be hard, however.
FAA money is off limits for the other half, and that is the same money the state distributes to airports.
A representative from Marlowe and Company, a Washington lobbyist firm hired to represent the airport and several local municipalities to Congress, discussed how, by applying for multiple grant opportunities and working with members of important committees, the airport may be able to get funds over several years.
County Commissioner Guy McCook was skeptical of the long-term advantage of funding the project.
"What else needs to be done?" McCook asked. "Is there a list of things that need to be done beyond that? What is the total bill going to be? I don't want to fix the runway and find out a year later that there is another $10 million dollars we have to spend to take advantage of it."
Davis said that the rest of the airport is in good condition and what is not in good condition is relatively inexpensive to fix.
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