Edgar Co. Airport exaggerates data on another $1.11 million grant application –

As usual in Edgar County: A big boon for a handful – at the expense of everyone. Do the statutes allow for the sale of the airport? Sell it and get out from under this boondoggle and money pit. Let the few who “benefit” from it , pay for it…period. And, my apologies to the good folks who use it and gain nothing from it but enjoyment or some logistical support to their businesses. As usual, a few cast a pall over the entire thing.

why is the county expending so much time & energy (and money) for crazy stupid efforts on a crazy stupid “airport” when the beautiful and historic courthouse — utilized by **SO** many more citizens than the airport — is approaching the point of falling-in on itself?

The Beginning.
Please allow me to begin my comments by providing the names of those presently serving on the Edgar County Board. District 1, Ben H. Jenness; District 2, Jeff Voigt; District 3, Andy Patrick; District 4 Karl Farnham Jr; District 5, Dan Bruner; District 6, Alan Zuber; and District 7, Mike Heltsley.
Board members Heltsley, Voigt and Farnham also serve on the “airport committee” with non-board member and appointee Jerry Griffin functioning as the “Airport Administrator”.
The county board members, as have been noted above, are the people most responsible for the events at the airport, the hiring and firing, the fraud, the finances of the county and just about everything else that has been mentioned in the afore mentioned article(s).
If you have not taken an opportunity to visit with your District board member on these issues, then please do so for the benefit of the county. They may also be contacted via the counties web page: http://edgarcountyillinois.com/county-board/ then by clicking on the “Contact” tab near the top of the page and then by selecting August Griffin-Edgar County Clerk & Recorder. I believe Mr. August Griffin will forward your message to the appropriate board member.
The Economics.
Edgar County presently carries hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt; all of which can easily be verified by contacting our county treasurer, Mr. Wiseman.
As noted in this article in this past fiscal year the Edgar County Watchdogs caused the return of something like $150K to the county from the sale of the Mass Transit System. Without that financial shot in the arm the county was well on its way to ending the year in the red and of course, in adding to the backlog of unpaid debt and borrowed monies.
In this particular fiscal year, there would also have been the added expenditure of about $60K for an un-needed, unwarranted and fraudulent airport project that was eventually halted by the FAA. That county money was not spent.
If these two events had played out differently, a year end deficit of nearly $210,000.00 may have occurred here in our county.
Since then, there have been some changes. In the present fiscal year, the county has increased a number of its “service fees” in hopes of increasing overall revenue. Having said that, its highly unlikely: no it’s impossible for these fee increases to approach the level of the nearly $150,000.00 returned to the county by the Edgar County Watchdogs last year in addition to the $72,000.00 of borrowed monies required by the newest fraudulent project. We simply do not have another Mass Transit System to sell in which to bail ourselves out.
In a real and certain way; these projects should be brought to an end because of their fraud, lies, deceptions and criminal acts as outlined in this article. These projects cannot be justified given the present facts and because this project is also one this county cannot afford.
The undeniable facts are, this county cannot adopt a deficit spending habit of $200,000.00 each year without the need to raise taxes. Raising taxes is the inevitable result of deficit spending. It seems, we are on a deficit spending path for this year.
The work.
John Kraft and Kirk Allen have done an excellent job in presenting a comprehensive outline of the problems at the Edgar County Airport and in providing the many reasons why this project(s) should not be allowed to go forward. It should not. Our Airport Administrator should have been fired long ago and needs dismissed immediately.
Board members need reminded of their responsibility to work for all of the counties taxpayers and not just for a few aircraft owners that benefit directly from the construction process itself. Please contact them.
Those that firebombed the airplanes at our airport need held accountable. Clearly they were connected in some way with the airport’s operation and locals, given the messages left upon them. Thanks for listening, Rob.

Just asking in reality how many yards of concrete is this whole thing about

Why didn’t you guys monitor the new high school construction like you have been the airport. The airport is small potatoes compared to the money that was misspent on that boondoggle on the north side of town. You guys worry about all this small stuff and let a project worth millions and millions go unchecked. You dropped the ball big time.

You didn’t mention that if the project gets stopped, which is what you guys are trying to do, the county will be on the hook for the engineering fees for the work that has already been done with the survey. These costs would usually be taken care of with the government grant, but if the project doesn’t go then the county is responsible to pay them. The exact number won’t be known until the engineering firm sends the bill, but it would be in the neighborhood of $100,00.00 or more. So if the reason you are trying to stop the project is the cost to the county, that doesn’t make sense because it will cost the tax payers more if the project doesn’t go through. You trying to stop this project from going puts a larger burden on the tax payers than if it continues. This is how that works.

TC: Perhaps after a project is awarded and the engineering oversight has been provided during the construction project, then and only then are all of the engineering fees due.
In this case, the county has Hanson Engineering on a retainer for the purpose of creating/justifying airport projects….. That retainer process was just renewed for something like 5 years.
It is my understanding, that percentage of the project for engineering fees and construction oversight are not due, earned or payable until project completion. If you can prove otherwise, please don’t hesitate to let me know.
Hopefully this county will not be saddled with a $72,000.00 addition on to what is now being spent at the airport for only a few aircraft. And this does not address the false and misleading statements included by Hanson Engineering in this/their proposal.
To this, I have some additional thoughts on the airport spending and the project itself.
First, I’ve never seen an new airport refueling area on asphalt…simply because aircraft fuel eats asphalt. Over half of this addition appears to be at or near the fueling area so it would seem logical that, admit it or not, there will be concrete in this project and lots of it.
Keep in mind, the numbers on this most recent grant application are pretty close to this:
– $1,110,325.00 total
– Statewide taxpayers kicking in $40,000.00
– Edgar County taxpayers and residents kicking in another $72,000.00.
– The rest of the money of course comes from fuel sales tax dollars collected nationally from honest people: all hoping those monies will be spent on projects that are well justified.
Our county board members…and Jeff Voigt in particular…seems to believe the operating expenses of the airport are warranted and justified simply as a cost of doing business. What I’m saying is, the unverified amount of $86,000.00 he claims as the airport operating costs have not been offset by the alleged income: an income that he is now toting as somewhere near $60,000.00.
I’m saying this because in the last Airport Advisory Board Jeff Voigt indicated the combined monies from several accounts, and one in particular the farm land lease account…totaled the needed $72,000.00 for the airport expansion and that no additional monies would be needed from the budget or taxpayers.
Clearly the gross income collected at the airport has not been used or applied to the airport operating costs if this money exists, nor have the county taxpayers benefited from that revenue.
It’s only been used to dig a deeper hole for the county taxpayers and to spend this income on anything that suits them. By saying there are separate accounts, accounts that he controls and that are airport rental income accounts…he’s saying the general fund has not been reimbursed and that money is going elsewhere.
In fact when adding the $86,000.00 of alleged cost of airport operation (it’s going up)
– to the uncommitted or unassigned revenue of $60,000.00 that has not been returned to or paid back into the general fund, the total scope of this issue is far closer to $146,000.00. using Jeff Voigt’s figures which have not been substantiated.
Then you add in bi-annual projects…such as last years attempt at defrauding the local, state, and federal government of something like an additional $60,000.00 or even the most recent attempt at $70,000.00 and your looking at $146,000.00 + $35,000.00 or about $181,000.00 per year to operate an airport with expansion projects that are unneeded or unwarranted.
The money pit is deeper than most taxpayers realize. If you listen to Mr. Voigt, you will soon realize that he has not trouble spending taxpayer monies, misleading the public or in raising our taxes which will be the inevitable result.
-The county cannot continue to overspend, to go beyond their budget and fail to pay off hundreds of thousands of dollars year after year with out a tax increase.
– The only justifiable need for this airport at this time; is a credit card machine at the fuel pumps…something the county can do for less than $20,000.00 and a need that has been around for decades.
Then there is the remaining matter of Jerry Griffin. Jerry Griffin is of course the counties flag bearer of lies and deceptions as he continues his employment……. only with the support of our county board members such as Jeff Voigt, Mike Heltsley, and Carl Farnham. His treatment of fuel customers and lack of safety awareness as demonstrated in this past Airport Advisory Board meeting by pilot complaints: show once again that he should have been terminated long ago.
Need I also mention the illegal meeting of December 2013….deemed so by the state’s attorney general…..and that only one board member has refunded the county for pay they received during that meeting? At last count, none of the above accepted responsibility for same by doing so.
The next thing our board members will be touting is the benefit of our airport to agriculture as a justification for any project they want.
BE FORWARNED, this is not a discussion about closing the airport that already exists, one that serves the needs of agriculture, and that is now returning a benefit to the county taxpayers.
I’m not advocating the closure of our airport as some have, but I’m advocating truth, honesty and an end to the unwarranted projects. I’m advocating the dismissal of the airport administrator for cause.
– As a taxpayer shouldering the burden of this airport along with others, I would like to be proud of it’s operation: not ashamed.