Jun. 25—The Lincoln Airport Authority on Thursday cemented its plans to start levying a property tax to pay for a major expansion and renovation of its passenger terminal.

The board approved a nearly $63 million fiscal year 2022 budget, which is nearly 60% larger than last year. That's due to $41.2 million in capital projects, the bulk of which will be spent on the terminal.

The airport expects to spend about $33.6 million over the next 12 months on the project, which will add about 35,000 square feet to the existing 58,000-square-foot building, consolidate its two security checkpoints into one and add airline gates.

The project overall is expected to cost roughly $55 million and take up to two years to complete. The rest of the cost will be in the 2023 budget.

Included in the budget is a 1.75-cent property tax levy, which would go into effect in January and last for 15 years. It would cost Lancaster County property owners $17.50 per $100,000 of valuation each year.

The property tax, the first the Airport Authority has levied since 1986, will pay off the bonds issued to finance the terminal work.

The airport this week sold $56 million worth of bonds for the project, and the issuance went extremely well, said Jenny Ekeler, the airport's director of administration and finance.

She said the strong interest allowed the airport to get a 1.737% interest rate, slightly lower than expected.

Airport Executive Director David Haring said the 1.75-cent levy, which is half of what the Airport Authority could levy, is unlikely to go up, but it could go down. The board does not plan to end the tax early, so the levy rate may be adjusted down in the future as property values go up.

Chad Lay, the airport's director of planning and development, said demolition work should start in a couple of weeks on the former administration area in the south part of the terminal, where the airport plans to make some temporary gate improvements to accommodate both of its airlines during construction.

Lay said more extensive work is scheduled to start in August, at which point the north half of the terminal will be completely closed off.

Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or [email protected].

On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.

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