Barnstable Town Council Approves Funding for Extra Airport Fuel, Legal Fees

HYANNIS – The Barnstable town council recently approved a supplemental appropriation for the current fiscal year’s budget for Barnstable Municipal Airport.

The airport requested an additional $765,000 for expenses including jet fuel and legal fees.

The majority of the funding, or $750,000, is for the purchase of aviation jet fuel.

“There are two major factors associated with the need to increase this budget line item,” said Katie Servis, the airport manager.

“The first is market increases in the jet fuel price per gallon and increases in projected fuel sales being sold.”

The budget for fuel was estimated with an average fuel price of $2.45 per gallon for Fiscal Year 2019 and the current average is $2.80.

“We made an estimate based on what the average was at that time,” Servis said.

The price of jet fuel fluctuates significantly.

“It changes weekly,” Servis said.

The airport also estimated its fuel need for the fiscal year to be 765,000 gallons.

“However, this is a good problem to have, over the first and second quarters for Fiscal Year 2019 the airport has already purchased and sold over 84 percent of what we projected our fuel needs would be for purchases and for sales,” Servis said.

The town has spent $1.7 million of its original fuel appropriation of $1.8 million.

“The price has gone up and we are selling more fuel,” she said.

A request was also made for $15,000 for extra legal fees.

The airport is still proceeding forward with lease negotiations for the Cape Town Plaza, also known as the Kmart Plaza, and other leases that are due to expire.

“Anytime that the airport has the opportunity to go to the town’s legal counsel we will do that,” Servis said. “There are some instances where we just need aviation professionals and aviation experts to help us and that is when we seek the assistance of outside counsel.”

The original appropriation for legal fees was just over $45,000. The airport has $17,000 remaining for that line item in the budget. The airport roughly spends $5,000 per month for legal fees.