LAWTON – City officials are counting on federal aid to help Lawton-Fort Sill Regional Airport recover some of the revenue it lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week the Lawton City Council accepted three grants under the federal American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which includes money for airports. The grants are designed to provide economic relief for airports affected by the pandemic.
The Lawton Metropolitan Airport Authority has received a $1.25 million grant to help cover various airport-related costs, including operations, personnel and janitorial services. Grant funds will also help the city make debt service payments for the airport and take steps to prevent the spread of pathogens at the facility.
The authority also received two ARPA grants totaling $44,900 for concession relief at the airport. The ARPA relief program is the last of three federal grants aimed at helping the nation’s airports recover from the pandemic, said Airport Director Barbara McNally.
“There’s also a component to that that is concession relief,” she said. “That will take into consideration some of our tenants that also suffered during this time. That money will be allocated to them.”
City Manager Michael Cleghorn said Friday that Lawton received its first installment of federal airport relief funds in late May. The total award was about $18.2 million, of which $9.1 million was available in the first year.
“As there are so many nuances to this program, we want to ensure that we spend the money as outlined in the federal guidelines for this program,” Cleghorn told Southwest Ledger. “Several updates to the spending and accounting requirements have been issued since we received the funds.”
Cleghorn said he has asked a representative from the Oklahoma Municipal League, or possibly the Oklahoma City-based accounting firm Crawford and Associates, to brief the council on ARPA before any grant money is spent.