Davidson County Gives $1.2 Million in Tax Surplus to Help Airport Expansion Project Take Off

May 4—The Davidson County Commissioners have taken a flying leap of faith approving $1.2 million in surplus sales tax revenue to invest in the Davidson County Airport.

During its meeting last week, the Davidson County Board of Commissioners appropriated the overage in local sales tax funds to the Davidson County Airport to build additional corporate hangars in an effort to encourage economic development and increase property tax revenue.

"We are very excited;" said Karl Van Der Linden, manager of the Davidson County Airport and owner/director of Fly High Lexington. "For years and years, we have been trying to fund more hangars for the airport. We have a long waiting list for people who want to come to our airport, but we are completely full."

According to Davidson County Manager Casey Smith when making the budget last year the board of commissioners conservatively projected the amount the county would receive in local sales tax due to the pandemic. The actual amount of taxes collected is expected to surpass that projection, leaving a surplus of $1.2 million.

Due to state and federal regulations, local governments are only allowed to spend overages in tax revenue for either educational or economic development. Smith said since the board of commissioners recently increased the per pupil funding for all three local school districts, the airport expansion project was the next logical step.

"We reduced the budget because of the virus, but it hasn't hurt us as bad as we thought it was going to. We are more restricted on how we can use these funds, this kind of project qualifies," said Smith.

One of the reasons the county commissioners unanimously approved the funds is because just one multi-million dollar jet housed at the Davidson County Airport could provide thousands of dollars in property taxes a year for the county.

According to county calculations, a corporate jet valued at $30 million which was housed at one of the corporate hangers created $145,000 in county tax revenue in one year.

Van Der Linden said the Davidson County Airport Authority Board of Directors is considering leveraging the $1.2 million from the county to apply for loans and/or public-private partnerships toward possibly building two or more corporate hangars.

Van Der Linden says the county airport has a waiting list of 30 planes for hangars; 13 of those have paid a deposit. A 10,000 square foot hangar will hold two large jets or four medium airplanes/jets or eight small planes.

"We have lost three or four prospects in the last six months or so who wanted to come to Davidson County, but we didn't have any open space. They call us and we can't help them so they call other airports; we want them here," said Van Der Linden.

Besides the value of increasing county property taxes, the housing of a large corporate jet also creates income through hangar rentals, gas tax, and other charges.

But more importantly, having the ability to have large hangars for multi-million dollar aircraft drives economic development by providing incentives to corporations looking to open new businesses in the area. This is especially enticing to the Davidson County Commissioners, as they are still recruiting tenants for the I-85 Corporate Park in Linwood.

"It starts with tax revenue, but it is also the economic development you get from providing service to some of the bigger corporate clients. Our goal is to build up our airport to recruit these businesses to our industrial parks; to be able to provide those services these corporations are looking for so they want to come here," said Smith.

According to a report released by the N.C. Department of Transportation's Division of Aviation, North Carolina's publicly owned airports contribute $61 billion to the state's economy and support 373,000 jobs. Airports and aviation-related jobs also provide $15 billion in personal income and contribute $2.5 billion in state and local tax revenues every year, based on 2019 data.

As one of the 62 general aviation airports in the state of North Carolina, the Davidson County Airport impacts 520 jobs including $2.8 million in state and local taxes annually.

"This project has been on the radar for several years, but they haven't been able to move because of money. We see this as an investment opportunity. Just a few of those big corporate jets alone can pay most of this back in property tax in one year," said Smith.

General news reporter Sharon Myers can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @LexDispatchSM.

___

Visit The Dispatch, Lexington, N.C. at www.the-dispatch.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.