The design of the new complex mixes wood siding, stone and plenty of windows on the outside and exposed wooden beams and support posts and piping on the inside. “They [sic] way we look at it, it is the gateway to the Adirondacks,” said [OC Aviation Commissioner] Stark. “It is upstate New York.”The terminal consists of two buildings that are connected.
The smaller building is a one-floor structure to be used by US Customs for incoming "international" flights -- of which there are none regularly scheduled, although planes occasionally come in from abroad for maintenance by MidAir USA or Premier Aviation. (You remember MidAir, the company that just got evicted from one of its hangers for being over $700,000 behind in its rent - the company that is expanding in Florida, but not here in Rome.) Now MidAir, Premier, and private pilots will no longer have to divert flights to Syracuse or wait for customs agents to arrive from Syracuse.
How convenient!
The larger building is a two-floor structure with the top floor housing airport administrative offices and car rental.
The bottom floor is really cushy! It is entirely occupied by Million Air, the County's fixed base operator (FBO), that caters to "general aviation" needs - i.e., private pilots, private aircraft and their private passengers. Per the Sentinel . . .
In the center on the ground floor is the Million Air service desk. There’s a conference room, as well as a cafe. There are three seating areas, with wall-mounted flat-screen televisions. Adding to the warmth of the seating areas are two double-sided gas-burning fireplaces. Additionally, pilots will have access to a space with computers linked to the internet for flight planning. There’s a theater room to help them fill in wait times before takeoff. If a nap is desired, there are two rooms where pilots can catch a few winks.Nice!
The terminal cost $7.1 million dollars to build. After a $500,000 grant (from taxpayers), Oneida County Taxpayers are on the hook for $6.6 million . . . plus the annual cost of a customs agent of $160,000 per year. Of course, revenues will be coming in from terminal tenants. OC Taxpayers will rake in a total of $138,400 annually from rents. I.e., the rents coming in will not even cover the cost of the customs agent. (Don't even think about the debt service on the structures).
But won't it be worth the convenience of being able to fly out of Rome instead of schlepping to Syracuse or Albany to catch a flight to Disney World, or Vegas, or to visit Aunt Martha in San Diego?
Think again.
There are No facilities for scheduled commercial flights . . . No ticket counters . . . No luggage carousels . . . No waiting rooms for You. You, the OC taxpayer, will continue to schlep to Syracuse or Albany. You, the OC Taxpayer, will continue to pay among the highest sales and property tax rates in the country to finance sumptuous and convenient facilities for the corporate welfare takers and regional elite.
Per the Sentinel . . .
Majority Leader Joseph [sic] E. Joseph, R-10, Westmoreland, said the county has been a “good steward” of the millions of federal, state and county dollars invested at Griffiss since the Air Force moved out and the county airport moved over from Whitestown.It is not being a "good steward" to secure millions from other levels of government only to saddle County Taxpayers with additional costs to support an infrastructure that is far too large to be justified by our regional population -- which is dropping.
No matter what we build to "attract" others here, we have totally failed to fix the fundamental problems that drove our own people and businesses to other parts of the country. Those forces of repulsion are still there. One of the forces of repulsion is our high rate of taxation -- now just made worse by our building new infrastructure that only serves private interests.
It's time for OC to put Joe and Jean Taxpayer first. Only then will we see real economic growth.
31 comments:
...........and if, by some miracle, Rome manages to attract a commercial airline, we are expected to ante up another $7.1 million for facilities for that airline, which will then sit vacant when said airline decides there is no money to be made here!!
This is but the latest taxpayer-paid, corporate welfare for Million Air. Previously, the County spent $3 million to build a “corporate hangar” for Million Air, and $1 million to install three additional Jet-A fuel storage tanks and a self-service 100LL fuel tank. The County also provides Million Air with 50% of certain hangar rent revenue; the free use, including utilities, of office space in Building 100; free fuel for its FBO vehicles; and, the free use of County equipment and employees' assistance.
Million Air was to have constructed an 8,000 square foot FBO building at Griffiss, but not at its expense. Instead, it was to be funded with a $2 million loan from GLDC/EDGE with the County liable to re-pay the loan, if it defaulted.
Million Air also demanded that the County fully fund a 24/7 Control Tower. In 2011 the County paid $56,400 to extend the Control Tower’s operating hours from 9 PM to 5 AM, five nights a week, to support the FBO’s speculative, after-hours fuel sales to military aircraft. No military aircraft arrived during the six months of extended hours.
Million Air also demanded that the County fully fund a Customs facility. Now it has gotten it, at a cost of $160,000 plus operating expenses, despite data that showed that no more than eight aircraft per month were clearing Customs to come to Griffiss.
Said it before and I'll say it again, get out if you can and if you've already left be glad you escaped and don't live here anymore.
Any potential (nano) manufacturer or potential business is likely looking at these actions and wondering what is going and what the high taxes of CNY are paying for and is there any accountability.
My children will NOT be paying for the mistakes being made here today.
Nothing changed with the opening of this White Elephant building. You still can't get there from here. WHAT A FIASCO!
It, in a sense is worse than any reasonable person can imagine. Commenting at the ribbon cutting, the County Executive stated that since Syracuse and Albany had successful airports, so could we. Is it possible that he does not realize that the existence of the other two mean that we cannot possibly succeed in attracting anything resembling a major carrier with a full menu of flights? They are close to our market and can easily accommodate our tiny population and business mass. If the County Executive cannot get this right, what is he thinking? The last major carrier left us over 20 years ago. No substitute has appeared to fill the void. Does this not say something? And, should those throwing millions at our no flights international airport explain what they are doing? Are the elected officials, their supporters in business, the OD, etc., so blind that they do not care to even question this waste that in most places would be a joke? They all should hang their heads in shame along with the sucker voters.
Anonymous #1, where did you get this information?It's MidAir, not Million Air the couty is catering to there.The tower is funded during the day through the FAA and was funded during night at the old Whitestown site by the county who wanted to completely close it.As former secretary of the Oneida County Aviation Association I can tell you that WE (OCAA) saved the tower by hiring an independent consultant to do a study.After determining we needed a tower for safety it remained open only during the day.The terminal in Whitestown was renovated just before the county decided to move the airport to cater to Empire Aero. We all know how well that worked out. Now MidAir is going the same way yet more space continues to be handed to MidAir
Mary P. Wakulik
I sure miss OCAA's airshows! Also missed is the old Whitestown airport UCA.... What a gem it was ... And a shame to let it go. But some politicians' appetites for facilities are bigger than the region's ability to sustain them.
Let's see now, we moved an airport with no flights to create another one with no flights and we celebrate the upgrade of a terminal with no passengers. Wow, is that progress or what? It is if you count throwing away more tax dollars as progress.
Anonymous at 6:16 AM - Perfect! That's it in a nutshell.
Don't forget the lost tenants and and continued spending at the old airport after the move. Repairs to the old FBO, a new roof for Orion Bus and renovations for the Homeland Security fell under airport spending for I think two years, but I can check my notes.
Mary
Picente and his delusions of grandure are the musings of a man with no concerns for the taxpayers of the county.Where are the county legislators while all of this is taking place? NOWHERE to be seen or heard from. This is nothing more than a rest stop for those who can afford traveling by private plane. How many of Tony"s cronies will be put to "work" in this glorified rest stop for the one percenters?
First this, then gondolas over Barnes Ave., and this morning I read about the $3.26 million plan to place electronic parking meters along Genesee St. They weren't kidding about the brain drain, were they?
If the county has enough money to build and finance projects like this we are seriously being OVERTAXED.
Aviatrix23/Mary: You have the two companies confused. The new so-called “Terminal” does not have anything to do with MidAir. More space is going to Million Air the FBO operator, not MidAir the MRO company. MidAir, because of financial difficulties, recently vacated a nose dock hangar and the East Bay of Building 100. Instead of three hangars, MidAir now occupies only one. It is Million Air, not MidAir, that has been the beneficiary of corporate welfare from the County. County taxpayers have literally put millions into Million Air. Everything I stated in my original post is absolutely accurate based on first-hand knowledge. Anonymous #1
Anonymous #4: Why Picente would claim that “since Syracuse and Albany had successful airports, so could we” is not only delusional, but he knows it is not true. In 2012 an Air Service Development Study was conducted by a professional aeronautical business consultant, not amateurs like EDGE. The finding of the study was that air carrier passenger service at Griffiss is not feasible in the foreseeable future. Picente know that!
Anonymous #1
Anonymous. That is exactly what I said. I am well aware that Millionaire is the FBO company.
Also, it is MidAir that is behind in rent and will soon leave as they have just constructed new buildings at their Florida facility.
It is MidAir that is being catered to by the county. MillinAir earns there keep with their services to us private pilots.
You have no idea how wrong you are about Million Air earning their keep. From day one its operations have been subsidized by the County.
The central point is that both parties have aided and abetted the waste of a small fortune of taxpayer dollars to chase a 20+ year long dream that was unrealistic from the start. The astounding aspect of this colossal waste is that the seem both proud of it and committed to continue it. The entire area ought to have its collective head examined. You just cannot get much dumber than we for permitting this farce.
They are committed to continue it because Picente, DiMeo and the Board of Legislators are incapable of admitting that they have been consistently wrong. Rule #1 in the county government is that nothing and no one is to be allowed to politically embarrass Picente.
What is playing out at the airport is playing out all over the region with other projects: Projects are chosen not because there is a demonstrated market need for them, but, rather, because there are millions in Federal and State dollars for the taking.
At the Airport there was simply too much money on the table for our local officials to resist.
Think of THAT the next time Congressman Hanna votes to increase the debt ceiling!
Congressman Hanna....... OUT OF TOUCH and OUT OF ORIGINAL IDEAS. TIME FOR A CHANGE.
If Million Air is subsidized by the county there is something very wrong happening. Mr. Freeman has ststed that Rome is the only place he is, "...still sucking pond water.". Mid Air continues to expand in FL and most likely won't be here in 6 months. Meanwhile the 3rs floor in building 100 which was gutted for them remains unusable. And all this can't be placed on Picente. It started in 2000 with Eannace. I denied it at the time when county employees assured me the airport would move to Griffiss.
Yes, all of this can be placed on Picente because he privatized the FBO and brought in Million Air/Freeman in Oct 2008; and, in 2012 he agreed to expand MidAir's leasehold to include the East Bay hangar in Building 100, despite professional advice/warning not to do so because of MidAir's questionable business viability.
The only thing that Freeman has been sucking is taxpayers' money. For example, he has not paid any rent or utilities, and has been given 50% of the t-hangars and corporate hangar rent. His corporate welfare from the County has been a lot deeper than pond water!
The bottom line is that there is no two party system here and voters do not seem to care how taxpayer money is spent. We are loaded with meaningless patronage jobs and taxpayer funded projects that do not work. For example, when is the last time the EDGE attracted a new employer into the area? But, it and elected officials are not accountable because they have life time jobs. And we wonder why the area does not grow. We wonder why we have high taxes and government reps that can barely string two sentences together.
When Picente made the claim that O.C. can support an airport like Albany & Syracuse he was correct. But he meant in the next century. Yes, in the next century Oneida County will have an airport servicing hundreds of thousands of passengers a year! Oh boy! Won't our great grandkids be proud? Thanks, Tony!
I'm a producer making $160k/yr. pumping. I left a long time ago & you should too. Too many taxes.
Cliffy.
Moving to Boston and leaving CNY was the best decision I ever made. 20% of Massachusetts's workforce is either directly or indirectly part of the high tech economy. High tech jobs are everywhere here. How's Nano working out for you all back there?
Anonymous, privatizing the FBO was a good thing, but it really isn't privatized with the county getting 8 cents a gallon on fuel. Many of the private owners left to go to Boonville, Hamilton, or Frankfort-Highland to fuel and hangar. When considering 40-50 gallons of fuel in a small plane the pennies add up,but the county only sees the trees not the forest. This year there will be more repairs to the runway, so fewer movements. The tower will be taken away after MidAir leaves when movements drop even more.
Aviatrix:
The County is contractually obligated to Premier and to Million Air to provide a Tower, even if the County has to fully pay for it. So, Midair leaving will not affect the Tower.
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