Planned expansions at the Brookhaven Municipal Airport may beimpaired by a less-than-expected appropriation from the federalgovernment.

For 2008, Congress authorized only 75 percent of the normalfunding provided to airports, dropping the money granted to BMAfrom approximately $390,000 to $289,000. The airport, which iscurrently gathering bids to expand the apron and aircraft parkingarea and to construct a 10-space hanger, has planned its projectsaround the larger appropriation and may be forced to cut corners orseek additional funding in order to see the plans through, cityofficials said.

“The lesser amount of money makes us look for alternativesources of funding,” said Airport Advisory Commission Chairman PaulBarnett. “We established the criteria of what we’re looking foraround the old number, and we’re going to have to utilizeadditional funding programs to achieve our goal.”

City Clerk Mike Jinks said the city may have to borrow around$100,000 to finish the expansion to original specifications. If thecity does borrow money, it can be repaid using next year’s AirportImprovement Program funding, a $150,000 annual allotment.

Once the project’s bids have been submitted, the city board ofaldermen will have to decide whether to reduce the size of theairport’s expansion or go after extra funding. The size of thehanger could be cut from 10 spaces to eight, which would reduce theeffectiveness, and profit margin, of the hanger.

“We currently have a waiting list for hanger occupants,” Barnettsaid. “There’s a demand for storage for aircraft. We have peoplemoving into our community, seeking a place to store theiraircraft.”

Currently, aircraft storage at the airport is limited totie-down space, leaving an aircraft exposed to the elements.Additional hanger space will not only offer recreational aviators abetter parking spot, but will open up new travel possibilities tocity businesses and visiting industrial clients, Barnett said.

“We’ve had businesses interested in purchasing and maintainingan aircraft with us, but we’ve had no place to store them,” Barnettsaid. “This will give us an opportunity to fulfill those businessneeds. And with the expanded ramp, we can offer a secureenvironment for aircraft that remain over night, where as we havebeen restricted in ramp space up until this point.”

Barnett said the expanded apron will also allow the airport toaccommodate larger aircraft.

More expansions are scheduled for the airport for next year, asthe advisory commission plans to purchase and install a new fuelfarm that will substantially increase the airport’s fuel storagecapacity.