Aviation securitySmall airports face reduction in TSA funding for security measures
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is reducing funding designated to help smaller airports provide law enforcement officers at passenger screenings; since the 9/11 attacks, the TSA mandated that one law enforcement officer be present when commercial passengers are screened at airports; the TSA has now changed the way it circulates funding for this program, reducing the number of hours an officer has to work and the amount he or she will be paid
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is reducing funding designated to help smaller airports provide law enforcement officers at passenger screenings.
Ogdensburg airport in New York is one of the airports subject to budget cuts as the Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority board of directors accepted a $43,800-per-year grant to pay for police presence at the airport, a reduction of almost 50 percent from previous funding levels, which were near $86,000.
“The $50,000 has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere is us.” Wade A. Davis, OBPA executive director told the Watertown Daily Times.
The Ogdensburg Police Department typically provides an officer for screenings, but the authority is unsure whether it can provide the additional funds according to Vice Chairman Frederick. Carter. “We can’t afford it anymore,” Carter told the Times. “We have to budget for this money or we’re out of the passenger service. We have now hit a crisis; we need to sit down with the city and the TSA and work something out.”
The Watertown International Airport is going through the same budget cuts. “We’ve seen a reduction and we’re working through that scenario in our present contract. There are some questions we are asking TSA,” James Lawrence Jr., Jefferson County highway superintendent and airport manager told the Times. “Unlike in previous contracts, the TSA did not reveal Watertown’s level of law enforcement officer funding.”
“I can tell you at the present time we have seen a reduction in funding, from $28 an hour for law enforcement to $22,” Lawrence said. “I can also tell you they are in the arrears of paying us in the last few months.”
Since the 9/11 attacks, the TSA mandated that one law enforcement officer be present when commercial passengers are screened at airports. In order for smaller airports to meet the requirement, the Law Enforcement Reimbursement program was created, providing grants based on the number of flights and passengers moving through airports.
The TSA has changed the way it circulates grants this year, reducing the number of hours an officer has to work and the amount he or she will be paid.
Joseph Gray, Massena town supervisor said that funding for Massena’s law enforcement officer was cut from more than $74,000 a year to less than $35,000. “The bottom line is we lose money at the airport anyway, and this doesn’t help matters,” Gray told the Times. “There is a potential impact on service.”
Gray said he knows of at least one small airport that does not keep an officer around for screenings, although he would not say which one.
The Ogdensburg Bridge and Port Authority (OBPA) is considering discontinuing the use of Ogdensburg officers for airport security. If a solution is not found, the OBPA will shut down commercial aviation at the Ogdensburg International Airport, according to Carter.
