Why did Buckeye City Council approve a $450,000 Federal Aviation Administration grant at its Nov. 5 regular meeting when that money was already dispersed and used?
Though the grant dollars received in 2023 were used, they had not been formally approved by council at that time. The Nov. 5 approval made up for the oversight.
The grant was awarded by the FFA’s local Aviation Districts Office in preparation for a larger $2.7 million grant for the Taxiway and South Apron Reconstruction Phase II Project, according to city documents. The project was originally bid to the FAA in early 2023 but the requested amount was too high for the grant. The Aviation District Office, however, offered to provide the $450,000 grant for Buckeye’s airport engineer to repackage the design and re-bid earlier this year. That task was completed and the project was re-bid to the FAA. Buckeye ultimately was awarded the $2.7 million grant under the re-design. That $2.7 million grant was approved by council on June 18 of this year with construction currently underway.
The $450,000 includes a local match of just over $22,000 from the city and another $22,000 from the Arizona Department of Transportation, making the total grant dollars for the redesign approximately $494,000.
It was unanimously approved by the mayor and councilmembers on Nov. 5.
