You simply have to love how the Allegheny County Airport Authority revealed how the cost of Pittsburgh International Airport’s midfield terminal project – originally pegged at $1.1 billion (and not $1.39 billion, as at least one media outlet posted) — suddenly has increased from $1.57 billion to $1.7 billion.
Not.
The $103 million increase was buried in the seventh paragraph of a Friday news release touting how the three major financial ratings agencies have given the project’s bond debt some version of an “A” rating.
But do note, it came right after the Airport Authority, in the same news release, repeated the misrepresentation for the umpteenth time that “No local taxpayer money is included in the budget for the new terminal. [The Authority] finances the cost of the terminal primarily through bond sales, which are repaid in annual debt payments from airport revenue backed by the airlines.”
“Primarily,” of course, is the skatin’-past-the-truth operative word here.
Frank Gamrat, executive director of the Allegheny Institute was, of course, not surprised at the project’s cost increase. For such increases are about as common on such projects as blooms on trees each spring.
“But anyone who thinks there isn’t taxpayer money” – local or otherwise – “involved is fooling themselves.
“As long as the airport gets gaming money, it’s taxpayer money,” the Ph.D. economist reminds.
“And let’s not forget who bailed out the Airport Authority when the current terminal was drowning in debt: you guessed it, the taxpayers,” Gamrat reminded, noting that it was more gaming money that was supposed to be used for property tax relief.
“If this new terminal goes too far in the red, don’t be surprised if Harrisburg rides to the rescue again with another bucket of taxpayer money.”
Of course, if it does, the Airport Authority will be quick to rationalize that even though at least part of that bailout came from local sources, there were “no local taxpayer dollars used.”
In the Airport Authority’s news release, CEO Christina Cassotis says a “significant portion of the [terminal project’s] budget increase is the acceleration of future capital projects that can be completed more efficiently with less cost concurrently with the new terminal program.”
The authority says the airlines have approved the latest hike.
And she defends the latest cost increase as a testament to the Airport Authority being “able to keep cost increases to a minimum despite worldwide inflation, supply challenges and rising labor costs.”
Gee, wonder what the price tag would be without those government-mandated and always-inflated organized labor costs, eh?
But the bottom line here is that the Airport Authority chose to bury news of the latest massive cost increase for the new PIT terminal project and now a dubious project to begin with will cost 54.5 percent more than originally projected.
And if this latest cost increase is so defensible, why announce it in such an indefensible manner?
Well?
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
