This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
The massive rebuilding of the Salt Lake City International Airport will require an additional $350 million, bringing Phase I of the project to $2.1 billion, and the total price to an estimated $2.9 billion.
The Terminal Redevelopment Program (TRP) will replace the airport's aging passenger terminals, concourses and related facilities.
Airport officials are requesting that the Salt Lake City Council approve a $972 million 30-year bond, the first of three. The debt will be retired with revenue from user fees and requires no tax increase on residents.
But on Tuesday, some members of the Salt Lake City Council asked Maureen Riley, executive director of the Department of Airports, why they received such late notice of the overruns in light of tight time frames for issuing bonds and making a budget amendment.
The council didn't learn of the $350 million in additional costs until Nov. 18. Airport officials didn't send out a news release on the request until 4 p.m. Nov. 23 – the day before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend.
Councilman Charlie Luke said he had concerns with the rushed request.
"Our public and residents need to know what's going on," he said. "When we received the information on Nov. 18, we fast tracked it as soon as we could. It looks like we're rushing this enormous amount [of money] through."
Riley told the council that airport officials didn't learn of the overruns until Labor Day (Sept. 5). They then had to scramble to determine if they needed to request more funds. As required, the request also had to be approved by Delta Air Lines.
"It took us awhile to figure out if we had enough in the budget already," she said. "And then we had to figure out if we could take part in the [city's] open budget amendment."
The process was expedited, Riley said, because various contracts had to be executed by Dec. 14.
Riley told The Salt Lake Tribune that the public announcement was not timed to be lost in the holiday, but was made as soon as possible.
Mike Williams, the airport program director, explained that Utah's robust construction market has resulted in bids for labor and materials coming in higher than originally estimated in spring 2015. Typically, construction activity for the Utah market averages $2.5 billion annually; however, in the current economic climate, construction activity is hovering around $5 billion annually — an all-time high.
Phase I of the TRP is on schedule to open in late 2020. It includes rental-car service facilities, a terminal, a parking garage and South Concourse-West. Future phases have yet to be put out to bid.
In addition to the requested $972 million bond, future bonds are expected to total $1.8 billion. Other funding mechanisms are: passenger charges, $260,000; customer charges, $174,000; airport funds, $475,000; and airport-improvement grants, $153,000;
A public hearing on the budget amendment is set for Dec. 13 at 7 p.m. at City Hall. A vote is expected later that evening.
A public hearing on the bond issue is slated for Jan. 3. at City Hall. A vote is expected Jan. 17.