Earline Hebert Adams
December 4, 2006
Houma woman nabbed with crack cocaine
December 6, 2006
With the rate of growth the Houma-Terrebonne Airport and Industrial Park is experiencing, airport commissioner approached the parish council asking for their approval to seek additional funds.
Chairman of the Houma-Terrebonne Airport Commission Jeffery Teuton reported that the board is currently seeking out an $8 million bond for necessary expansion and maintenance projects and was approved by the Terrebonne Parish Council during the Nov. 29 regular meeting.
“We are enjoying a nice little boom out there,” said Teuton.
After “lengthy due diligence,” Teuton said the commission has settled on GE Airport Finance Corp. to issue the bond. Many banks and agencies were reviewed to find the best rate.
“We’ve landed on what we’ve deemed the best for the future of the airport, which is up to $8 million. We are not sure if we will borrow it all but with legal costs we are trying to leave ourselves some room so we don’t have to go back and do it again,” said Teuton. Federal Aviation Administration mandates require the airport to add security lighting to existing taxiways as a Homeland Security measure. An Automated Weather Observation System (AWOS), which would allow pilots to land when the tower is closed, would be completed with the bond money as well.
These two projects amount to $3.5 million of the total bond.
Another $1.75 million would be used for economic benefit projects. The commission would work with local or national companies to finance structures on the airbase, attracting additional business.
There are a few projects still being discussed. “Some projects are too close to call, but there are several more we have out there. That is why we are saying up to $8 million, because we are not sure whether we need all of it,” said Teuton.
The Houma-Terrebonne Airport is self-sufficient, receiving no tax support. The commission does apply for FAA or state Department of Transportation and Development grants as they become available.
Before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the commission completed a 6,500-foot runway that can land 150,000-pound aircraft, said Teuton. Taxiways have been repaired at a price of $4.5 million and the commission just allotted $400,000 to repair another.
Economic Impact on Terrebonne Parish
Backing up their request to seek a bond, the commission came before the council with information supporting economic benefits the airport presents to the Bayou Region.
The commission hired R. Morris Coats, Ph. D., and Kevin Chris Cox, Ph. D., of Coats and Cox Market and Economic Analysis, to perform an economic impact survey in 2003. The results concluded an impact of “$3 million in just a 5-year period.”
Cox is the assistant dean of the Management and Marketing Department, and Coats is a professor of finance and economics at Nicholls State University.
Some 2,204 people were employed at the airbase or managed by off-site airbase operations and tenants employed an additional 2,200, bringing nearly 4,400 jobs to the region, according to the survey. Teuton said the number has more than likely increased significantly during that time with corporation expansions and additions.
British Petroleum is one company that is looking to grow its Houma Airport operations. Currently, BP flies 10,000 workers a month out of the airport and will create a $12 million to $14 million facility, upgrading their flight procedures, according to Teuton.
“It’s quite an operation they have. I always thought you just threw a bag on a helicopter and got on, but they have their own ticketing system that may be more stringent than New Orleans International,” he said.
SEACOR Marine, headquartered in Houma, has also entered into an agreement to create an airport-based facility that will employ nearly 100 people and create some 400 new jobs in Gulf of Mexico operations, reported Teuton.
Those businesses would combine with present vendors at the airbase, who in 2003, contributed an estimated $1.1 billion in sales to the region, and Cox and Coates estimated upwards of $5.4 billion in sales from 2003 to 2007.
The report supported the impact of the airbase as well as the tenants located within the Industrial Park as well, creating 420 jobs, $23 million in Gross Regional Product and pumping $46 million in dollars to the region’s economy, in 2003.
While talk of developing a soccer complex on reserved land at the Industrial Park site has been on the table for nearly five years, Cox’s and Coates’ analysis indicated that completion would only further the parishes economic benefit.
According to the report, the complex would add not only attract players from around the state and increase spending in the parish, but also benefit local residents by providing a space for youth to play, and “enhance quality of life n and housing values n in the area.”
Although no further research has been compiled since 2003, Cox said the number of tenants at the airport and the success of those companies largely affects the economic impact of the airport.
“We just have a whole lot going on and this survey shows that the impact is just tremendous and looks to be even better in the future,” said Teuton.
