Clintonville will pay back funds in 2020
By Bert Lehman
To help cover a shortfall in funding for the construction of a new storage building at Clintonville Municipal Airport, Clintonville will borrow up to $81,000 in entitlement funds from Portage County.
The $81,000 will be repaid in 2020, when the city receives its yearly entitlement funds from the Department of Transportation.
The Clintonville City Council approved the measure at its Aug. 13 meeting.
The city will not have to pay any interest on the borrowed funds.
Prior to the vote, Mike McCord, the interim Public Works director, informed the council that each year the city is provided with around $155,000 in entitlement funds from the Department of Transportation.
These funds are used for improvements at the Clintonville Municipal Airport. If the money isn’t used each year, the money accrues to the following year.
Only municipalities and counties that have airports receive entitlement funds.
“We had gained several years of entitlements,” McCord said.
At the Finance Committee meeting the prior day, City Administrator Sharon Eveland said the new building will house snow removal equipment.
She said the state of Wisconsin and the federal government pay for 95 percent of the project.
“That’s what you use to fund these projects,” Eveland said. “Then the city is responsible for the 5%.”
Fuel contract
The council also approved a fuel contract with Titan Aviation Fuels. The company was currently supplying fuel at Clintonville Municipal Airport.
The agreement is a five-year contract.
In addition to a guaranteed fuel price, McCord said Titan Aviation Fuels also provides the city with support, including the addition of new identification decals throughout the airport. The company will also conduct required inspections, which the city is currently using a private company to do.
“The relationship I think is in our favor to sign a five-year agreement,” McCord said.
He added that the contract includes a clause that allows the city to terminate the contract after a 90-day notice.
Prior to approving the contract, Eveland told the council that it had recently approved a contract with Titan Aviation Fuels while Kray Brown was still the Public Works director for the city of Clintonville. That contract was never signed by the city, and McCord discussed the contract with Eveland because he had some concerns.
“We definitely felt that we needed to re-evaluate and look at it a little bit closer,” Eveland said.