I can safely say I don’t know what this means, however approving $847,500,000 in Aviation Bonds is on the County Budget, Planning and Sustainability Committee Agenda for November 9th.
1. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $600,000,000 OF 2010A AVIATION REVENUE BONDS
2. RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING ISSUANCE OF NOT TO EXCEED $247,500,000 DOUBLE-BARRELED AVIATION BONDS (GENERAL OBLIGATION), SERIES 2010, IN ONE OR MORE TRANCHES, FOR PURPOSE OF PAYING COSTS OF CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS FOR COUNTY AIRPORTS;
Is this why we need slot machines at the airport and want to drill at the Dade-Collier training facility Airport? What is up with these bonds? What do they say about the financial stability of MIA? Anyone have answers?
4 comments:
Both of these bond issues are part of MIA’s long-planned capital improvement plan. The County has been very transparent about the budget and the funding plan. Just like the Building Better Communities program and other large capital investments, we don’t borrow all the money at once. If we did that, we’d be paying too much in interest, among other issues. These bond sales give us the cash flow to move ahead with the airport expansion and improvement.
The capital improvement plan is fully funded without any new non-aviation revenues such as slot machines or activity on nearby land. How? First of all, American Airlines’ is profitable and expanding at MIA, adding new flights and new destinations (even as other hubs struggle), and that means more revenue for MIA.
We have also always been clear about the pace at which we’d need to increase landing fees in order to keep pace with the debt payments (as well as the increased operations costs that come with adding millions of square feet of facilities). The airlines have always been aware of that schedule and part of the process.
Even better, we’ve actually been able to keep landing fees LOWER than what we had projected when the capital improvement plan began. Lower fees make MIA even more attractive for airlines, helping us remain competitive during a difficult time for air travel.
Obviously we don’t want to ignore opportunities for non-aviation revenue. If there’s a smart way to raise money with slot machines that are INSIDE security (and, therefore, not competing with other local facilities), we’d be foolish not to at least study it. However, this idea and others are not necessary to keep MIA and its capital plan funded or within budget. We want to explore anything that’s reasonable, and then have a robust discussion with the public and the County Commission about whether the options are good ideas to actually implement.
Vicki Mallette
Communications Director
Miami-Dade County
Much appreciated Vicki...good information to have.
What she said!
m
oh m, what a suck-up.
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