How big of an economic impact does Kalispell City Airport have? The figure Jim Lynch shared during a recent Chamber of Commerce forum about the upcoming airport referendum was $24 million a year.

That tally comes from a study of Montana’s 120 airports done in 2008 when Lynch was the state’s transportation director.

The study reported finding eight aviation-related tenants at Kalispell City Airport supporting more than 96 employees, $3.4 million in payroll and $7.3 million in total economic output that year.

How does that compare to employment at the airport today? Four aviation businesses identified as operating at the airport in the latest master plan update said last week they have about 25 employees in all, some part-time.

Another impact the study considered is visitor spending.

It estimated that Kalispell City Airport sees 43,000 flight operations and 19,980 visitors each year, and that those visitors spend enough money in the community each year to support another 144 jobs with $2.8 million in payroll for a total economic output of $7.5 million.

That’s a lot of visitors for an airport that saw only about 13,270 verifiable flight operations in 2011 when an acoustic counter was set up to actually measure flight activity for the first time.

While possibly imperfect — or “completely exaggerated” as Chad Graham called it during the airport forum — the $24 million economic impact figure comes from the only economic analysis ever done on the Kalispell City Airport.

Jim Pierce, owner of Red Eagle Aviation, said he usually tells people who don’t believe the study’s finding to cut it in half or even down to a quarter to a number they can believe. “That’s still a good chunk of change,” Pierce said.

Red Eagle Aviation is the airport’s fixed-base operator. It offers fuel sales, flying lessons and aircraft repair, operating out of a building it leases from the city.

Pierce estimates his business’s payroll for 10 full-time and three part-time employees at about $400,000 a year. “I know what the economic benefit is to the people employed here, to the pilots and the people we see.”

Lynch, Pierce and other proponents of an estimated $16.1 million project to realign and expand the airport and bring it up to modern design standards through the federal Airport Improvement Program argue that it’s the best way to let it grow as an economic asset and at the same time deal with longstanding noise and safety complaints.

Federal funding could cover up to 90 percent of eligible costs, provide up to $150,000 a year for maintenance and reimburse the city for an estimated $2.9 million already spent on land and upgrades at the airport — money that could then be used to cover the estimated $2.5 million the city would have to contribute toward the cost of the upgrade, they argue.

Opponents question that view.

They argue the airport can be maintained without any federal funding, pointing out any economic activity there now would remain if the upgrade is not pursued. They also question that level of local and federal investment in an expansion projected to generate only about $19,000 a year in new revenues for the airport once it is phased in over six years. The upgraded airport is projected to attract only 13 more based aircraft and increase annual flight operations by about 12,000 a year over the next 20 years.

KALISPELL MIGHT BE eligible for federal Airport Improvement Program money to upgrade the city airport, but is the funding guaranteed if it decides to pursue that option?

Some conditions must be met before Kalispell can get any federal funding. That’s a point highlighted and underlined for emphasis in the latest master plan update. And a point Lynch seemed to gloss over at the forum.

The project must first clear an environmental assessment with a finding of no significant impact.

Kalispell then must acquire rights to remove two KGEZ radio towers south of the airport and successfully negotiate with 17 property owners to acquire land needed for the airport realignment and expansion.

Those are all-or-nothing conditions: Failure to acquire one property could derail the city’s ability to proceed.

The Federal Aviation Administration has agreed to pay for the environmental assessment — a step put on hold by the upcoming referendum to repeal the City Council’s decision to pursue the upgrade. But FAA would not release any more funding until Kalispell completed those other steps. And those steps would likely require the city to cover up-front costs because the large amount of federal funding needed to complete the project could not be paid out in one, two or even three years.

When Kalispell was considering a nearly identical airport upgrade almost 10 years ago it was unable to acquire the KGEZ radio towers from their former owner, John Stokes. That stalled the project until the environmental assessment lapsed, throwing the city back into its latest airport planning process.

IF KALISPELL VOTERS repeal the City Council’s decision to pursue the airport upgrade, will airport maintenance or improvement costs fall on city taxpayers? “If it isn’t expanded and funded as proposed, city taxpayers will pay an awful lot,” Lynch cautioned at the airport forum, wondering aloud where the money would come from. “Will it affect police, fire, other services, your taxes?”

Leases at the airport will require Kalispell to keep it open and functional for years to come, or to buy those leases out. That latter cost is estimated at about $4.8 million today and will decline each year unless the city enters new leases.

“They have a word for that. Hyperbole,” Kalispell City Attorney Charlie Harball said.

“I don’t meant to slam Jim. I get the whole run of rationale on it. But we don’t have any reason to believe we can’t maintain this airport for the full length of the leases. That’s our obligation to those leases, that they have a functional airport to be on. There are no promises from us that it will be bigger or better.”

City Council members who oppose the airport upgrade voted instead to rehabilitate the airport in its current footprint with money from the Airport Tax Increment Financing District — not with money from the general fund that pays for police and fire services.

That tax increment financing district generates about $500,000 a year and does not sunset until 2020.

Deferred maintenance at the airport will come home to roost. So will a lack of sufficient funds generated by airport leases and user fees to pay for the needed work. At a bare minimum, pavement rehabilitation will be needed to keep the airport usable, said Jeff Walla, of Stelling Engineers.

“Bottom line is it will take $1 million in four to five years to maintain the viability of those pavements. There won’t be anywhere near enough money generated by the airport as an enterprise fund,” Walla predicted.

Reporter Tom Lotshaw may be reached at 758-4483 or by email at tlotshaw@dailyinterlake.com.