South Lake Tahoe may outsource airport management
By Kathryn Reed
Lake Tahoe Airport in the near future may not be run by people on South Lake Tahoe’s payroll.
“It’s not so much what we save in employee costs, as it is having a more entrepreneurial approach to managing the airport,” City Manager Tony O’Rourke told Lake Tahoe News. “We have vacancies in the hangars, we hope to have commuter service. Technically, this is an enterprise operation and it should break even.”
Lake Tahoe Airport is busy one time of year -- during the celebrity golf tournament. Photo/LTN file
Instead, the city is subsidizing the airport by about a half million dollars each year. If the airport ever evolved from being primarily a general aviation facility into a commuter hub, that figure would drop substantially.
The City Council at its Dec. 13 meeting is expected to vote on whether a request for proposal to replace the management at the airport with private operators should go forward. A change could come in February.
Five people work for the city.
“The city needs to know what is best for the city and that is what they will find out by putting an RFP for certain services at the airport,” airport Manager Sherry Miller said. “They will find out if it’s less expensive to have their own employees or more expensive, and what kind of qualified people they can get.”
O’Rourke said instead of having the entire operation run privately, it would be the management. He wants to base it on what the Minden airport did in the last year.
If the airport were to ever get any form of commercial services, the downstairs offices used primarily by the city attorneys would need to be vacated for security and baggage claim.
“That would be a nice problem; to have to relocate them,” O’Rourke said.
Outsource your police and fire too.
Outsource the city council!
Outsource the City Manager!!
Of course the police should be absorbed by the sheriff’s department and be operated as a contract city. Could save up to a million bucks. While they are at it all three local fire departments should be combined. The imbalances between departments such as pension, work rules, and salaries could be worked out especially in this time of austerity and loss of government jobs, in all classifications including pubilc safety.
In regards to outsourcing management at the airport. Where does this end? The city has already leased out the ice areana to a private party, then they lay off plow drivers and firemen and other city workers who actually WORK to keep this town functioning and a safe and beautiful place to live.
Whats next? Lease out the public pool? Bijou Park or Regan Beach? At this rate there won’t be any city employees left except for the city council and all our public properties will be run privately.
I can imagine when Tony O’ resigns and jets out of here back to Colorado with a suitcase full of taxpayer dollars, he’ll look out the window and say “What a bunch of suckers”.
May I suggest the city council gets on that plane with Tony? I hear there’s lots of people in Vail / Beaver Creek with alot of money. Maybe you can do a repeat performance of what your doing to So. Shore.
Have a nice day , Old Long Skiis
Clearly the city employees haven’t been able to run certain areas efficiently or else we wouldn’t be in the position we are in. Besides benefits packages that we can’t afford, It was a good thing that the ice area was privatized. It it will now be run efficiently and will most likely turn a profit instead of cost taxpayers money. The airport is in the same situation. Management at the airport doesn’t know what they are doing. It has done nothing to grow traffic count, encourage business etc. it continues to cost taxpayers money and upset the tennants and business that they ready have. In the private world this would never fly. If you were hired to do a job, paid a good salary and couldn’t accomplish the job, you’d be let go.