The financial picture at Bradford Regional Airport is looking
up.

During Wednesday’s meeting of the airport authority, which was
dominated by financial matters, officials agreed to pay off a
$132,000 passenger facility line of credit loan and establish a new
local project share account in the amount of $28,279, which will
enable the authority to cover its share of future capital
projects.

The authority also agreed to give Airport Director Tom Frungillo
a pay raise in an effort to bring his salary into line with his
contemporaries’ salaries statewide.

Regarding the financial matters, officials said the passenger
facility loan was paid off with the $160,279 the authority received
by selling a parcel of land for a proposed Pennsylvania Army
National Guard armory.

In paying off the PFC loan, Frungillo said it puts the airport
in “a better financial position for the future.”

According to a chart distributed during the financial
committee’s meeting, the PFC loan had a 6.39 percent fixed interest
rate, the highest on any debt incurred by the authority.

The loan has been used to help pay off the authority’s local
matching share – currently 2.5 percent – on Federal Aviation
Administration Airport Improvement Projects, of which the airport
is eligible for up to $1 million in grant funding through the U.S.
Department of Transportation.

“It’s the first time in recent history we (authority) have been
able to pay off that account,” authority member Max Brady said.

The loan is also tied into the number of enplanements at the
airport, which have declined since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks.

“Before 9-11, there were enough enplanements to pay off the
interest and pay the percentage on the airport projects,” Frungillo
said. “The enplanements have not been sufficient enough to do that
since that time.”

Each time a passenger flies out of Bradford Regional, the
airport receives $4.50 per passenger, according to Frungillo.

After paying off the PFC line of credit, and by establishing the
Airport PFC account, it will eliminate an annual interest of $8,620
on the PFC line of credit.

Frungillo said the local share of 2.5 percent for the 2006-07
airport improvement projects is estimated at $49,846. With a PFC
account balance of $28,279 and the PFC funds generating roughly
$27,000 this year, it will leave a fund balance of $5,433 for
2008.

The authority also agreed to leave a $126,299 balance in the
Natural Resource Account – which the airport gets through its oil
and gas wells on the property – to be used as a Capital Reserve
Account for any unforeseen circumstances that arise in the
future.

Officials have said the goal of the authority is to not increase
county subsidy to the facility in its annual budget. According to
the 2007 spending plan, McKean County will pay $168,000 – which has
held steady over the past few years.

The authority still has to pay off a $188,522 loan on its
T-hangars.

In other news, the authority unanimously voted to approve a pay
raise for Frungillo.

News of the raise came after a nearly 20 minute executive
session held by the board.

In announcing the move, Authority Chairman Clifford Lane said
“Tom has done some great things, but we also understand this is a
make or break year. If some things don’t happen this airport could
go the other way.”

The authority is in the midst of an effort to change hub cities
from Pittsburgh to Washington and the development of the proposed
armory and a multi-tenant center.

According to a copy of the employment agreement for Frungillo,
he will earn $65,000 per year. In the 2007 budget, Frungillo’s
salary was listed at $61,000.

In 2006, Frungillo earned $55,500, according to a salary survey
of other directors across the region. That survey indicates the
average salary for an airport director landed somewhere between
$50,000 and $70,000.

Officials said the agreement will last until Jan. 1, 2010.
Frungillo will also receive 20 paid days off a year in addition to
holidays as well as the regular benefits afforded to full-time
employees of the airport.

The authority also awarded the construction of a new parallel
taxiway to Runway 32 to Cummins Construction Co. of Bradford in the
amount of $1.31 million.

The authority had received three bids for the project, which
includes connecting the main runway to the airport’s terminal
building. Officials previously said the taxiway represents a safety
measure along with an infrastructure improvement.