by Jon Styf
Tennessee’s airports came to a Senate committee Wednesday again asking to receive $125 million in annual state funding as the state continues to lower the fuel taxes that once funded those airports.
The state has put an individual company cap on annual fuel tax payments starting at $10.5 million in 2015 and dropping to a $5 million cap in 2023. That means that funding in the state Transportation Equity Fund dropped from $56.6 million in 2018 to $14 million in 2023.
The main beneficiary of the tax cap has been FedEx, which hit the cap annually and paid nearly 40% of the state’s total aviation fuel taxes.
The fund helps to pay for the state’s five commercial and 73 general aviation airports, with 75% of funding going to the commercial airports and 25% going to the general aviation airports.
The state gave $50 million to the airport fund in 2021 and then $60 million in 2022.
“We know that’s going away,” Doug Kreulen, CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport and president of the Tennessee Association of Air Carrier Airports said of the fuel tax.
He said that, in its place, the group would be asking for $125 million annually which would progress to $150 million annually due to inflation. Kreulen said he met with Gov. Bill Lee and staff along with presenting to the Senate Transportation and Safety Committee.
Kreulen compared the ask to North Carolina, which recently saw an increase from $125 million to $150 million in state funding. Kreulen said Nashville is hoping to eventually expand one of its runways so that it can fly non-stop to Asia along with its current European flights.
Sen. Frank Niceley, R-Strawberry Plains, was one of several committee members who suggested the state’s airports also ask municipalities to contribute to capital projects.
“I could see a lot more good giving money to the airport than giving it to the [Titans] stadium,” Nicely said, referencing a $2.2 billion Titans stadium currently being discussed with public funding from both the state and Metro Nashville.
State Rep. William Lamberth, R-Portland, said in previous years he preferred the state to fund the airports instead of the aviation fuel tax.
“I want to say, for the record, that is what I hope we will do from here forward,” Lamberth said last year. “We need to set aside a specific amount of money that takes care of our airports because they’re a critical part of our infrastructure separate from whatever happens from any amount of tax that’s coming in from any one individual or any one particular corporation or anything else.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies. Styf is a reporter for The Center Square.
Photo “Doug Kreulen” by Fly Nashville.
