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$119.5M
LATER, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS TAXPAYERS STILL TRYING TO GET AIRPORT OFF
GROUND
Illinois Policy Institute/
Brad Weisenstein
An underused airport near Belleville, Illinois, has required local
taxpayers to chip in $119.5 million since 2002 to keep it operating.
Even with pandemic money, 2020 was even worse.
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 St. Clair County taxpayers had to add almost $8.2 million from
other county resources to keep MidAmerica St. Louis Airport open during the
pandemic year, according to auditors. That brings the grand total since 2002 to
$119.5 million in fund transfers needed to fill the airport’s deficits.
The subsidy was up from the $7 million needed in 2019 and nearly $6.3 million
needed in 2018.
The 2020 subsidy would have been even bigger, but auditors noted $553,000 in
pandemic funds eased the drain. “Declines in passenger service and certain other
revenue producing operations were offset by special airport grant funding
related to the pandemic.”
One improvement at the airport was the number of available
destinations from the lone passenger carrier. A year ago only seven destinations
were available, but the airline currently lists 13 destinations from the airport
on the outskirts of Belleville, Illinois.
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St. Clair County homeowners should be concerned
that scarce resources are flowing to a project unable to turn a
profit. They should also ask how bailing out the airport is
affecting their property taxes and home values, especially the value
of a rural home where people rarely see a sheriff’s deputy on patrol
because that money is keeping an airport staffed.
 Since the Great Recession, St. Clair County home values fell by 23%
after adjusting for inflation, according to data from the Bureau of
Economic Analysis. Also from 2007-2017, Illinois Department of
Revenue data shows property tax bills in St. Clair County grew 5%
after adjusting for inflation. |
