RACINE - Batten International Airport Manager David Mann says his airport cannot compete with municipal airports. He's not alone in that opinion.

"They never will be able to compete as long as it's a privately held piece of property," said Burlington Airport Manager Gary Meisner.

While Batten's flights have dropped sharply, activity at Burlington's airport has remained steady, Meisner said. Besides avoiding paying property taxes and storm water fees, Burlington airport also pays far less for insurance - which will cost Batten $98,096 this year. When getting insurance, "There's a huge difference" being municipal-owned, Meisner said.

Mann said he'd love to be able to get liability insurance from the self-insured pool that includes the city and county of Racine. He estimated Batten's insurance now costs five or six times more than it would that way.

But to do that, one of those entities would have to own Batten Airport.

"I feel bad for (Mann)," Meisner said, "but it's like he has a ball and chain around his ankle, and he's trying to run at the same speed as everyone else.

"The day of a privately owned airport is gone," Meisner declared. "You just can't make enough money to make it survive."

Public vs. private

Mann admits there can be some advantages to private ownership. "When business was good, we could make decisions and operate more efficiently than a bureaucracy," he said.

But on balance, he said, becoming nonprofit or government-owned looks mighty attractive right now.

Asked what would be the logical municipal owner for Batten, Mann replied, "I haven't studied it, but I would think the county would be most appropriate.

"The county has entered into previous private-public partnerships," most notably Reefpoint Marina, he said. "They have more experience with it."

Moreover, Batten's users include the whole area - not just the City of Racine. Mann agreed it might make sense to match its resources with the airport.

Racine County Executive William McReynolds could not be reached for comment.

Michael Batten isn't so sure about the idea of Batten as a municipal airport, and his opinion counts for a lot. Batten - whose father, the late John H. Batten, gave the airport its name - is chairman of Racine Commercial Airport Corp., which owns the airport.

Being privately owned means Batten Airport may be able to move more quickly to develop the airport or buy equipment, said Batten, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of Twin Disc.

He said Mann is "perhaps a little pessimistic" in saying Batten can only last another year on its present course.

"We have adjusted staffing," Batten said. "And we're looking at every way to cut costs and increase revenues." As an example, he cited last week's female flier rally that used Batten as a stopover.

He also predicted the economy will revive, and so will air travel.

"I think we would look at any reasonable proposition," Batten said, "but at the moment … that's the way it's going to be until we decide to do it differently.

"While Twin Disc is one of the shareholders," he said, "I could not tell you we're looking to do that. At this point in time, it's not a question."

Burlington Municipal Airport has funding edge

Here is a look at how the Burlington Municipal Airport is financed.

♦ The city pays $319 monthly for a part-time airport manager. Apart from that, the airport is self-funded through three revenue streams, said Airport Manager Gary Meisner:

♦ Profit on fuel sales.

♦ Personal property taxes that airport users pay on improvements, mainly hangars.

♦ Land leases that airport users pay, at 9.5 cents per square foot.

Overall, the airport operates in the black. The profits - $73,000 last year - are kept in a fund for future airport needs.