High court ruled it wasn’t necessary for VTR funding

The City of Vicksburg will resume direct funding of the regional airport in Louisiana bypassing an airport authority created during a court case in 1999.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted Monday to dissolve the five-member board that existed only to funnel funding to the Vicksburg Tallulah Regional Airport at Mound. The Supreme Court ruled in October that the authority was not required and that Warren County Circuit Court Judge Frank Vollor erred in ruling that it was needed.

The airport authority last met May 5.

“That board that was formed has no use anymore,” said South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman.

Funding for VTR became an issue of public debate and litigation after the city board under a previous administration voted 2-1 to close the Vicksburg Municipal Airport on U.S. 61 South. Shortly after that February 1996 vote, 18 area businessmen sued, seeking to keep the municipal airport open.

VTR in Mound, La., was developed starting in 1983 as a replacement facility for Vicksburg’s airport. It is owned by four governments: Vicksburg, Warren County, Tallulah and Madison Parish, and it gets an operating supplement from each.

Vollor had issued an injunction keeping the municipal airport open. He also ruled that the city needed to create a legal entity such as an airport authority to fund VTR to act as a buffer protecting Vicksburg from any liability associated with that facility.

City officials acted quickly to form the authority, which did little more than approve the paying of bills to VTR. Warren County was never a party to the litigation, but formed an authority in 2000, a year and a half after the board stopped funding for the airport.

Richard George, president of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, said supervisors have not discussed making any changes to the county’s funding mechanism.

“We weren’t involved in the (litigation) at all,” George said. “We formed an airport authority to be on the safe side, and it has performed very well.”

Along with ruling that the authority was not needed, the Supreme Court found that the city could close its airport. City attorneys have filed a motion to have the injunction lifted. This is expected to happen around July 1.

In all, six lawsuits have been filed by attorneys for both sides. The suits and multiple appeals and cross appeals were consolidated in the Supreme Court’s ruling. Justices reversed the lower court in five questions and upheld three on three issues.

Beauman said that the city is expecting a proposal on the municipal airport’s future from the 18 area businessmen who sued the city. City officials have not said what action, if any, they plan to take regarding the future of the 55-year-old facility.

“We haven’t made any decisions on it yet,” Beauman said.

North Ward Alderman Gertrude Young, who voted against closing the municipal airport in February 1998, said she is waiting to see what the businessmen who operate that facility propose. Young is the only member of the board still serving from the previous administration.

“I always felt that we should keep the money on this side of the river,” Young said. And, “If I could keep it on this side of the water, I would.”

Vicksburg contributes about $41,000 annually to operation of VTR and for capital improvements. It also pays $4,900 for the airport authority.

The airport’s $6 million construction cost was paid largely by a federal grant. Since VTR opened, the Corps of Engineers transferred its flight operations there, and at least two businesses operate at the new airport. It is managed by a five-member board whose members are appointed one each by the owners with the fifth slot rotating.