COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – The Branch County Board of Commissioners approved a resolution Tuesday for the rehabilitation of a 3,500 foot runway and the installation of taxiway lighting at the Branch County Memorial Airport.
The project’s estimated cost of $1,392,000, including work on Runway 422, will be shared by federal, state and local units of government under a block grant program.
The federal part of the project comes to over $1.2 million or about 87 percent. The state share would be about $67,000.
The county had originally allocated $45,000 for the local share. But an additional allocation of $24,600 had to be made for 2020. County and airport officials say the cost of the local portion went up because the Michigan Department of Transportation’s Office of Aeronautics delayed the bid letting process due to internal administration issues and the bad winter weather.
In turn, the Commissioners recently approved a recommendation from the Airport Board to borrow $100,000 from M.D.O.T.’s airport loan program in order to cover the additional $24,600 local share, as well as $75,000 of FAA and MDOT discretionary funding.
Engineering consultant Ben Hoover told Commissioners recently the loan can be paid back over 10 years. He added the amount that is not used for the local share can be paid back with future entitlement funds.
