Airport to OCTA? Old Idea Gets New Life : * Turning John Wayne Over to Agency Makes More Sense in Wake of Bankruptcy

An old proposal to have the Orange County Transportation Authority take over John Wayne Airport has been given new life as the county struggles to economize, consolidate and generally make the numbers add up from the bankruptcy.

The benefit for OCTA in having an added jewel in its crown always has been apparent, but the potential benefit for the county has been less so. Now, the county’s financial position argues for looking at this proposal, especially in view of the discussion already going on about whether the airport should be sold.

A number of things would need to be worked out for any transfer of the property, and there is not a lot of time to do it if the county is to make good on recovery notes. There are questions, for example, related to the refinancing of the $250 million in airport debt, the federal prohibition on using airport revenues for non-airport purposes, deed restrictions against property transfers and the implications for the future of a commercial airport at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station. The county also needs to examine whether there will be a significant forfeiture of public accountability by effectively transferring control of the airport from the Board of Supervisors, all directly elected, to an independent agency where the supervisors are only four members of a 12-member board of directors.

Of obvious benefit would be the write-off of the $132 million the county owes the agency as a result of losses suffered in the county investment pool, the OCTA’s purchasing of $84 million in county recovery notes aimed at repaying pool participants, and the assumption of the airport debt. A consolidation would expand the transportation empire of the authority and its chief executive, Stan Oftelie, but consolidation might make sense as part of the streamlined county government that we must have in the future. Previously, Airport Manager Jan Mittermeier has said that it would make sense for the county to place all of its transportation functions under one central authority. This proposal surely merits consideration.