Part of the renovations may be screeching to a halt as Congress debates essential Federal Aviation Administration dollars.
The airport plans to add capacity to its small terminal, as well as perform $6.3 million in runway maintenance. Airport Director Jason Licon says funding is secure for terminal improvements, and runway dollars were supposed to be approved this week by Congress in a long-term FAA funding bill. But the House and Senate couldn鈥檛 agree on it.
鈥淯nfortunately the FAA funding process has been very limited right now due to Congress only letting the appropriation of funds for the FAA in monthly or lately three week increments,鈥� he said. Licon says right now the airport has scheduled a complete shutdown between August 15 and September 1. But if FAA dollars aren鈥檛 approved by next Wednesday, the airport will have to delay the runway improvements to next summer. The delay would cost the area about 150 jobs during the almost three-week time period.
