Oct. 16--The Reading Regional Airport Authority on Tuesday approved an operating budget of $1.8 million that includes a buffer of only $38,000 for its fiscal year that began Oct. 1.
Board members also authorized airport manager Terry Sroka to plan the airfield's 75th anniversary celebration next year.
Sroka said he plans to showcase the original City Hangar, now used by Millennium Aviation, by re-enacting the opening ceremonies in October 1939.
The budget's top three revenue sources are the $600,000 in bills paid to its sewage treatment plant, $473,000 in lease payments from airfield tenants and $455,000 in lease payments from its two industrial parks.
The top three expenses are $695,500 in salaries and benefits, $281,000 in interest payments on its bonds and $235,000 for outside services.
Meanwhile, the board approved the purchase of a $9,934 phone system from Jalla Technologies, Union Township, to replace its 20-year-old system that Sroka said often doesn't let the staff get phone messages.
It's also working with Utilitech Inc., a Spring Township utility consultant, to identify old phone lines no longer needed and to get unnecessary charges removed from its phone bill, again.
The consultant had gotten the fees removed several years ago, but Sroka said they're sneaking back onto the bills. The airport expects the two moves to save it $7,000 a year in phone bills, of which Utilitech would get half.
It's also going to cost 350 employees of airfield tenants $10 more each to get the security badges required to work on the airfield. The authority raised the cost to $35 because of the paperwork and costs involved.
Tuesday's meeting was led by Vice Chairman S. Ronald Miller.
Chairman Michael A. Setley was absent, recuperating from burns to his arms and legs.
Authority members said he was using an aerosol sealant to weatherproof a Florida home when it got too close to a gas grill and caught fire.
Contact Don Spatz: 610-371-5027 or [email protected].
Copyright 2013 - Reading Eagle, Pa.
