A $150 Million Embarrassment
Exterior of Murtha Airport in Johnstown, PA. This place has received $150 million in tax payer's dollars over the last 10 years!
In a time when everyone is watching what they spend and tax dollars are being carefully monitored, one airport is raking in the dough. John Murtha Airport, located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania (about 90 minutes east of Pittsburgh) has received an estimated $150 million in tax payer’s dollars over the last decade.
The problem? Well this tiny airport only handles on average 20 passengers per day. On top of all the cash this airport receives, it also taxes the locals $100 to just keep it in business. Some of the charges made to the government include a $14 million hangar, a $7 million control tower and an $8 million radar installation.
So who is this John Murtha, and why does he have an airport named after him? Well Mr. Murtha is a politician that resides in Johnstown and has represented Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 1974. He also has been considered one of “the kings of pork” on Capitol Hill by his opponents. Murtha has fought hard over the years to ensure that funds continue to come into the airport named after him.
A hectic day at John Murtha Johnstown-Cambria County Airport
Murtha Airport offers three commercial flights per day, which brings in some light foot traffic. But when there are no planes outside, the airport is basically a quiet and empty museum. To make matters worse, the facility was just granted $800,000 to repave its runway. You know the same runway that handles six airplanes every 24 hours?! John Murtha isn’t speaking to the media (shocker). But his “people” have stated the airport attracts additional business to the area and it desperately needed a new runway, noting that it was last updated in the 1980s.
Murtha airport is not alone with gobbling up tax dollars for their tiny airport. According to the FAA’s Web site, there are hundreds of airports, both big and small, that will be granted $1 billion in stimulus money this year. Does this make sense to anyone out there? I find it quite insane that in a time when we are trying to save money, so much is wasted on locations like Murtha.
During discussions about a possible expansion to the airport in Ocean City Maryland, the FAA representative in all seriousness stated that the FAA’s goal was to have no airport more than 10 miles away from any other airport. The FAA, in short, is an out-of-control bureaucracy.