After last year’s failed ballot measure to locate a new international airport at Miramar, city residents expressed frustration with the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority.
People could not understand why the authority selected Miramar as the site for a new airport when the military and area residents vehemently opposed such a move. The ballot measure handily lost.
I shared voters’ frustration and introduced a good-government measure to reform the airport authority and save taxpayer money. My legislation, Senate Bill 10, aims to rein in bloated board member salaries and allow local communities to appoint authority board members.
The airport authority, which was formed in 2002, manages Lindbergh Field and is overseen by a nine-member board.
Three of those board members make up the executive committee and are each paid $172,000. The remaining six members are paid $100 for each meeting attended, or roughly $9,600 annually.
It is an unusual pay structure and one that should stop. Airport authority board members in Los Angeles and San Francisco receive no pay for their work, and no authority member elsewhere in the state receives six-figure salaries.
Under my bill, the $172,000 salaries would be eliminated, and all board members would receive $200 for up to six meetings each month for authority meetings or functions attended.
Pay is a serious issue because the airport authority is designed for public service, not personal profit. Board members should serve because they want to improve air transportation in the region. As currently designed, however, the process rewards politically connected individuals who may or may not have experience guiding airports.
The three executive committee members are appointed by the governor, San Diego County sheriff, and City of San Diego mayor. This, too, is unusual because no other airport authority in the state allows the governor or sheriff to appoint its members.
My bill would place this power with local governments, an arrangement that ensures greater accountability to voters. The closer these appointees are to everyday folks, the better chance they will hear concerns about the future of San Diego airports.
On May 17, the Senate passed SB 10 with bipartisan support. More recently, it passed an Assembly committee with several amendments, including implementing innovative regional planning of aviation and ground transportation infrastructure; reconfiguring the board at nine members, with three appointed by the City of San Diego, two by San Diego County, and four by sub-regional groups; and keeping Airport Land Use Commission duties with the airport authority.
I look forward to the bill successfully landing on the governor’s desk for his signature and improving the Airport Authority’s relationship with the public. With passage of this bill, the airport authority will be accountable to taxpayers and answerable to voters “” something long overdue.
” Sen. Christine Kehoe represents the 39th Senate District, which includes Downtown San Diego and other parts of the City of San Diego.