City officials have given their final approval for the airport to spend additional funds on fuel due to record sales and elevated fuel prices.
Columbus City Council voted on Wednesday to approve the second reading of an additional appropriation of $50,000 from the city’s aviation fuel non-reverting fund.
Regina McIntyre, the city’s finance director, said that while the council previously voted to approve both readings of the appropriation at their Oct. 3 meeting, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance “has created some automation and really cannot do that now.”
She added that if the council wants to do both readings of an appropriation at one meeting, they will need to advertise that information 10 days prior to the public hearing.
The money for this particular appropriation does not come from city tax dollars but rather from revenue that the airport generated, airport director Brian Payne said at the council’s October meeting. However, airport officials are still required to ask for the city council’s approval because it is considered the airport’s fiscal body.
“We are in need of an additional $50,000 to purchase additional fuel for us to be able to sell,” he said. “…The fuel we sell goes back into making the airport profitable.”
According to Payne, the airport sold a record amount of fuel during the first nine months of the year. As of the end of September, the airport had sold 42,195 gallons of fuel, up from 37,556 gallons sold during the same period last year.
He said that the price of fuel was also a motivating factor for seeking the appropriation.
