WARSAW — The Board of Aviation Commissioners looked toward the future with a discussion on the Warsaw Municipal Airport’s 2020 budget during its meeting on Tuesday, July 9.

Airport Manager Nick King presented a draft of the airport’s 2020 budget to board members and estimated a 23.7 percent change in overall funding. For 2019, the airport’s final budget number was $843,116 and would increase in 2020 to $1,042,971.

According to King, the airport’s budget is split in two different ways, consisting of a general operating budget and a depreciation fund. King proposed to the board that no budget be established for the depreciation fund next year so that the money currently within the fund does not have to be spent. Approximately 80 percent of the 2020 budget increase is due to the airport’s plans to only spend funds in its general operating budget.

Following the discussion on the 2020 budget draft, Board Vice-President John Yingling asked King about taxiway repair at the airport.

“We are in the middle of working with the city’s street department on that,” said King. “Instead of contacting a third-party about it, we’re actually scheduled to get them out there and have them do a lot of the crack repair. It’s going to save the airport a lot of money.”

King also informed the board that Jon Blosser, owner of Air Care, Inc., is retiring and asked if the board would be interested in allowing the airport to purchase the hangar. Air Care, Inc., is a company that offers aircraft and heavy equipment repair services.

“If the airport would decide to purchase it, we could use that for additional storage space for our equipment and we could also park aircraft inside of the hangar overnight,” said King. “Depending on the size of the aircraft, we could charge pilots for us allowing them to keep their planes there.”

Board President Jay Rigdon asked if it would be possible for someone in the same line of work as Air Care, Inc., to use the hangar.

“The people who have looked at bringing in another mechanic shop there…a lot of those mechanics would look at a lease for it rather than purchasing it,” said King. “Continuing to have a service like that at the airport would be huge.”

“It’s going to be a lot easier to get someone in that line of work in there if they don’t have to purchase the building,” said Board Member Dan Robinson.

The board decided to consider its options regarding the hangar and tabled the discussion.

The next Board of Aviation meeting will be at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 13.