The Airport Authority is an Independent Special District. That means that it is directly responsible to the State and is not operated by the County. The board is elected county-wide. Each commissioner represents his or her district. Our elections are held in the same way as county elections. Since 1963, this board has operated the airport under state law and federal law, independent of the county.
When you look at your Charlotte County TRIM Notice or your Charlotte County Tax Bill, or if you look at the Charlotte County Budget, you will not find any reference to the Airport. That is because the Airport is responsible for its own operations and is independent of the county. There is no direct funding from the county for the operations of the airport.
Funding for the Airport comes from a variety of sources. These include:
- Fuel sales
- Leases on aviation and non-aviation properites
- Rental car revenue
- Parking lot revenue
- Fees from the airlines
In addition, the airport also receives funds from the Federal Aviation Administration and the US Department of Transportation in the form of "grants" to the airport. Simply put, when you buy an airline ticket, the taxes that you pay on that ticket are paid into a fund. Those funds are then allocated to airports throughout the country based on a formula. Because your Punta Gorda Airport has commercial airline service, it is entitled to receive a portion of that airline ticket tax revenue. It is also able to apply for additional support from transportation funding allocated by the state and federal government.The budget for the Punta Gorda Airport for 2016-17 is about $9.5 million. The bulk of that funding comes from our fuel sales, airline related revenue, leases, and other miscellaneous revenue. But no taxes. This year alone, Allegiant Airlines paid the airport $429,000. In addition, the airport received over $1.3 million in revenue from rental cars and another $2.9 million from parking lot revenue.
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