VALDOSTA — Addressing the immediate future needs of this growing region’s commercial and general aviation flight demands will be on the forefront of the Valdosta-Lowndes Regional Airport Authority’s agenda when the board makes final decisions on the proposed $1.13 million fiscal 2009 budget this week.

The authority and interim Airport Manager Patti Clark will make key determinations for airport operations and the financial sources to support them when they meet at 8 a.m. Wednesday at the commercial terminal.

Among key concerns to be addressed are potential negotiations with Valdosta city officials over a city fire department request for a total of $8,000 in salary increases for the city-provided airport crash and rescue unit’s six full-time firefighters.

Also on the docket are considerations on whether to scrap use of former airport manager Bob Holliway’s assigned Ford Crown Victoria vehicle in favor of switching to a mileage pay for Clark if she uses her personal vehicle to travel to Atlanta for meetings concerning local airport issues.

Besides the fiscal budget considerations, the authority also is slated to receive a proposal from a subcommittee for possibly borrowing money to build more t-hangars and corporate sized hangars, both of which are in major demand at the airport.

The authority also will receive a report from an expert from Atlanta on air quality at the general aviation terminal, where the fixed base operator’s manager has claimed to be a victim of mold contamination that required surgery.

Airport officials have taken all the steps prescribed by the expert to alleviate any potential danger to the public from any possible contamination, and next plan to have two independent air conditioning experts inspect the existing HVAC system to make sure it’s not over-powering or under-covering the building as a potential contributor to a possible mold outbreak.

Authority Chairman Joe Prater and Clark met last Wednesday with an invited Times reporter to review the tentative fiscal year budget and make proposals for the full authority board to consider this Wednesday. The fiscal year begins July 1 and ends June 30, 2009.

The budget proposes expenditures totaling $1,135,295, a $122,692 increase over the previous year’s budget. Capital projects included in the budget are a new heating and air conditioning system for the commercial terminal, a security access control system and painting the commercial terminal, a total of $125,000.

The airport authority, created by a legislative act, is autonomous and independent of city and county government operations. But the Federal Aviation Administration requires the airport to provide fire and rescue service to air traffic. The authority meets the requirement by contracting with the Valdosta Fire Department.

Prater and Clark discussed the airport crash and rescue unit’s request for a total expenditure of $329,000, in part, to cover the $8,000 in salary increases for the six firefighters who man the unit on rotating shifts. The airport also must pay for rescue vehicle maintenance and all other costs associated with the rescue unit’s operation, which runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The fire department last year received a budgeted $301,387 for its operations from airport authority coffers. Prater and Clark proposed a reduced line item for the unit for next year, at $313,945 and will seek authority members’ input on how to proceed with negotiations with the city fire department.

Several of the full time firefighters in the unit have several years of tenure, which resulted in hefty pay grade salary increases, the two noted. A move to seek proposals for possibly replacing the city fire department unit with a Moody Air Force Base or Lowndes County unit for less cost is probably not possible this late into the budget process for 2009, they said.

Airport employee salaries, including interim Manager Clark’s proposed $65,000 salary, came in at a reduction of $12,021 from last year’s salaries for a total of $283,639. That’s mainly because Clark’s salary as interim manager is $14,390 less than former airport manager Holliway’s annual salary of $79,390.

Whether the authority will advertise the manager’s position during Clark’s interim period to seek other applicants, or will hire Clark to be permanent manager has not been determined, Prater said.