As budget talks continue at Moose Jaw City Hall, the new airport authority has presented their operating budget for 2019.

Preliminary funding has been granted to the newly formed Moose Jaw Airport Authority. During budget talks this year, council has agreed to give a new authority two revenue streams in addition to an annual operating grant.

That includes the hangar lease revenue which totals $30,516 and the farmland lease revenue which totals $86,130. Needing just shy of $150,000 to get up and running, they have requested an additional $30,000 needed to come from taxes.

In creating the airport authority, council has relinquished the maintenance costs associated with the airport such as snow clearing. So that brings the actual budget implications to $104,000. As mentioned, some of that will come from the revenue generated at the airport with the rest coming from taxpayers as well as any capital costs.

At the talks, this was a move that Councillor Dawn Luhning did not support.

"So the hangar revenue and the farmland lease revenue are all the revenues that we were receiving as a City from the municipal airport but they would receive, obviously, fire service and police service [in exchange], yet we're going to turn over all the revenue to the airport authority and then eat the cost of other things that we might have to cover."

However, the majority of council supported the move and it was approved, pending the final vote on the operating budget.