Mid-America Airport continues to drain St. Clair County with $11.9 million net loss

St. Clair County government’s net worth shrank five percent last year, from $353,960,000 to $336,437,000, as Mid-America Airport continued to drain its resources.

The airport posted a net loss of $11,982,469, according to an annual financial report that the Scheffel Boyle accounting firm of Belleville submitted on Sept. 22.

The general fund partially bailed out the airport with transfers of about $6,803,000, but the transfers increased a general fund shortfall from about $5,550,000 to about $12,353,000.

The airport from its beginning has received $45,051,447 from other county funds.

The drop in the county’s net worth more than doubled that of 2012, when the general fund produced a surplus of $1,112,000 and the airport lost $9,217,000.

Last year, revenues in funds other than the airport fell from $94,170,000 to $92,398,000, while expenses rose from $93,058,000 to $97,948,000.

General government at least came close to breaking even. The airport missed by a mile.

It spent $3,734,275 on operations and incurred $6,327,202 in depreciation, for total operating expenses of $10,061,477.

Mid-America earned $763,242 on rents and concessions, $130,667 on fuel sales, and $86,348 on other services, bringing total operating revenues to $980,257.

That means it spent more than $10 on operations for every dollar of operating revenue.

It paid $4,326,813 in interest and $90,050 in bond issue costs, and it lost $24,024 in disposal of assets, bringing total expenses to $14,502,364.

It received $936,417 in grants and surplus property from the federal government, and it made $438,364 on land leases, $127,770 on investments, and $37,087 on passenger facility charges, bringing total revenues to $2,519,895.

Transfers from the general fund cut the loss to $5,179,210.

The airport owes $82,684,000 in long term obligations. The rest of county government owes $43,862,000 barely half as much as the airport.