After FAA audit, state on the hook for $500K to Warwick for T.F. Green first responders

A Southwest Airlines flight is shown at Rhode Island T.F. Green Airport. (Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)

Nobody complained for over three decades as the corporation that runs the state’s airport paid an annual six-figure sum to the city of Warwick to cover emergency services. 

Then came a routine audit by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) released last December calling on the Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) to halt those yearly payments. Now the state is liable to ensure those payments continue, according to Rhode Island general law.

That’s what prompted House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi to descend into the State House basement on April 23 to introduce a resolution allocating $500,000 in state funding to the city of Warwick, which he represents, to compensate for providing municipal fire and emergency services to Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport.

“This is money the city of Warwick relies on,” Shekarchi told the House Finance Committee at the hearing, his first appearance before that panel this year. “We have a legal obligation as well as a moral obligation to fund this.”

Shekarchi’s resolution is co-sponsored by all six of Warwick’s State House representatives. The legislation was held for further study, as is standard practice when first heard in committee.

Fire Station 8 in Warwick, which is just across the street from T.F. Green International Airport. Since 1988, the corporation that runs the state’s airport has made annual payments for services this station provides. (Google Earth)

Service should be free, says FAA

In reviewing the T.F. Green’s external payments, the FAA audit found airport officials did not have any documentation to support making annual payments to fund services by Warwick Fire Station 8, which is located just across the street from the airport on Post Road.

“The FAA determined that, absent supporting documentation, the fire services were in line with mutual aid and the city should provide them free of charge,” an agency spokesperson said Monday.

Warwick Mayor Frank Picozzi does not buy the FAA’s argument that city services should be free.

“It’s been done for decades — I don’t know what changed all of a sudden,” he said in an interview Wednesday afternoon. 

The FAA did not respond to the same question from Rhode Island Current.

Bradley International Airport, Connecticut’s only airport with national and international traffic, makes over $4.6 million in annual payments to the four towns that surround it — that includes $3.3 million to the town of Windsor Locks where the airport lies.

Auditors also found that most emergency calls at T.F. Green were for medical emergencies inside the terminal, which the FAA said was not different from what first responders do for the surrounding community. 

For serious airport fires, the FAA said such services are provided by emergency crews located on the airfield. Picozzi said while emergency services are not constant at T.F. Green, first responders often address calls at the nearby hotels along with managing traffic in the area.

“And without the airport, they probably wouldn’t be there,” Picozzi said.“I thought $500,000 was a very light compensation.”

Airport spokesperson John Goodman said T.F. Green generated $5 million in tax revenue for the city of Warwick in fiscal year 2023. Goodman said this comes from parking surcharges, hotel tax, food and beverage taxes, and property taxes the airport pays for the parking garage.

“RIAC must comply with these findings and regulations,” Goodman said Thursday.

What’s going on with the planned cargo facility?

As state leaders seek to quickly settle the funding dilemma, Warwick and airport officials have still yet to sign a memorandum of understanding over a proposed $100 million new cargo terminal at T.F. Green.

At issue is a dispute over a sound wall and diverting trucks away from city streets — two sticking points that led Warwick officials to file a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration last summer. That lawsuit remains ongoing, Picozzi said Wednesday.

“But that’s something we’ll drop once the MOU is signed,” he said.

And it looks like that could soon happen, said Picozzi. He said the airport has since updated its plans to make sure delivery trucks are immediately directed to the airport connector and nearby highways instead of taking local roads.

This new plan has been submitted to the FAA for its consideration, Goodman said.

The post After FAA audit, state on the hook for $500K to Warwick for T.F. Green first responders appeared first on Rhode Island Current.