Maverick County Judge David Saucedo reported that the County Government has replenished approximately $1,280,928 in funds to this particular account after numerous years of it being dormant.
Saucedo added that with this action the county airport may now qualify for funding from the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA). “After 15 years Maverick County has replenished and returned every dime that was owed to the Maverick County Airport. With this budget we will return $1,280,928 that belong to the Maverick County Airport. This is very important,” said Saucedo. “We will now be able to start receiving approximately $125,000 in annual payments for maintenance from the FAA and that will allow us to apply for funding for improvements that are needed at the Maverick County Airport.”
Judge Saucedo touched base on an issue that had been questioned as to the funding in this account.
“I have met with many residents who have talked about hear say, and it's important to let the public know what was actually happening. In the past it has been said, especially during election campaigns, that the county owes the airport $2,000,000; the county owes the airport $3,000,000; the county owes the airport $12,000,000 and at the end of the last campaign the county owes the airport $24,000,000; which is an unheard of amount. Maverick County has
supported and maintained airport for the past 12 years at an amount of $80,000 per year.
The only thing that we have done is we have charged to maintain it. But as of today, we now see an airport that is self-sustained and it has every dime that belongs to them. We see it as an organization that is up and coming, and we see it as an opportunity to bring industry into our community,” said Saucedo.
What occurred that left the airport account without the funding you have now replenished? “During the early 2000's one of the Commissioners was able to lobby and utilize some funding because he felt he had been left out of the CO's for projects being done. The court at that time, and I was a member of the court, granted him that. It's been a criticism for years as you are aware of. The money was utilized for projects but it was never replenished (returned). And that put the county outside of compliance. People have made up numbers especially during election time about the amount. If you recall the original sale of the airport was in the amount of about $1,900,000. So how does $1.9 million turn into $24 million?
That's impossible. I've been lobbying for several years to our auditors to give us a true figure on how much was owed, so we could correct the issue,” concluded Saucedo.