Wiarton airport is a white elephant??
A very good question indeed.With all the wild dreams from pipelines to massive developments to retirement communities to rumours of a conference centre..are we aware of where all our money is going?While reading the Amabel Property Owners Association newsletter, I came across a well written article by a local taxpayer incensed at the flow of money to keep this wild political dream afloat.
"By the end of 2006 this small town airport will have soaked up over $400,000 in taxpayer subsidies in just three years. There are two supporting municipalities, Town of South Bruce Peninsula and Georgian Bluffs.....A white elephant in this case is just a community paradox..... it has failed to operate anywhere close to a break even point. It siphons cash from a pair of municipalities with relatively small populations."
It is a well writen and researched article in which every taxpayer should be interested in.
Four hundred thousand... 400,000..just a tad bit more than pipeline lawyers.....
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Echo Letter Supports Airpark Speculation
Attempting to minimize the sheer size of the Wiarton Airport deficit, Hank Nuis writes in the July 5 Echo that the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association, Flight 68, Friends of the Airport supports the Airpark proposal. However he stops short of volunteering his association to pay for it.
South Bruce Treasurer Pat Stock says we keep just 44% of property taxes collected here. The rest goes to county and other purposes. At this rate at an average annual property tax of $1500 it would take a village of equivalent size to Hepworth (200+ homes) just to support the annual deficit at the airport. I don't see how the friends of the airport can trivialize this drain on our resources. Of course they may fool a few people with Hank Nuis flashing his COPA Captains credentials. He makes an interesting proxy as both Close and Noble have been silent about Airpark since they indicated in Feburary it was part of their campaign platform. I wonder how COPA feels about being a political pawn?
It is interesting that candidate for Mayor, John Close has recently resigned from the Joint Airport Board. Perhaps he saw a coming implosion that will hurt his chances if he is associated with it.