Regional Industry & News

FARGO — The governing board behind Hector International Airport may expand beyond Fargo to include county leadership.

The Fargo Municipal Airport Authority proposed Thursday, July 23, to the Cass County Commission creating a regional airport authority. The move would extend the tax base to the county as a whole while giving the commission and Cass County residents a voice at the Airport Authority’s table, Authority Chair Rick Berg said.

“It’s governance that matches the benefits,” he said.

The commission did not act on the proposal.

Fargo allocated about $1.9 million for the 2027 budget, said Airport Executive Director Shawn Dobberstein.

“Every penny of those property tax dollars that we receive from the city of Fargo citizens goes to infrastructure,” he said. “No money goes towards the day-to-day operations of the airport. We are 100% self-sufficient with the operations of the airport.”

If the commission agreed to create a regional airport authority with Fargo, Cass County residents would contribute property taxes to Hector, Dobberstein said. That would increase the amount of money the airport receives for projects.

The authority is developing plans to extend and widen its secondary runway, Dobberstein said. That is estimated to cost $150 million, he said.

He described it as a generational project that will require local, state and federal funding. Creating a regional authority would generate additional funding for infrastructure projects, he said.

The airport is in the middle of a $200 million effort to modernize the facility. It includes expanding the terminal, upgrades to the apron and a parking ramp.

Like the anticipated runway project, the airport expansion was a generationl project. A portion of the renovated terminal opened in February.

The airport is financially strong, Berg said. The only loan it has is from the Bank of North Dakota for $40 million, he said. The 2% interest loan that lasts 30 years helped pay for the parking ramp, which opened last year, Dobberstein said.

The goal is to expand the airport authority to fit the amount of people who are using it while letting the county have more input, Berg said. The airport has more than doubled the number of passengers it boards from 238,508 in 2020 to 590,542 last year, according to airport data.

Passengers come from beyond Fargo to fly out of Hector, and businesses that are not paying taxes in Fargo also are using the airport, Berg said.

“Everyone is using it, especially businesses with cargo,” he said.

Expanding the tax base beyond the city would improve bonding abilities, meaning the airport could get lower rates and better terms for loans, Berg said.

Creating a regional authority won’t impact local airports, Berg said. They are supported by their own local governments, he said.

The change has been discussed in the past, Dobberstein said. Grand Forks International Airport and Mercer County Regional Airport have regional authorities, Berg said.

The authority still needs to determine the mechanics of how a regional group would operate, including how to appoint members to the airport board. Berg said he would like to see the regional authority in place in 2028.