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Area leaders are weighing the option of donating to the fail-safe account needed to bring American Airline’s service to Jack Brooks Regional Airport.
The fail-safe account, or Minimum Revenue Guarantee, is a fund created by local governing bodies to prevent the airline from losing money.
American Airline officials said the MRG account needs to be approximately $1.5 million, and the community needs to collect the funds within the upcoming weeks.
Jefferson County is kicking in $250,000 using $30,000 from the hotel tax fund and $220,000 from its general fund. The fund has about $70,000 made up of individual donations, according to a story that ran in the Sept. 11 edition of The News, and county officials are asking for $250,000 from Beaumont, $200,000 from Port Arthur and $100,000 from Mid-County cities. Excess funds from the MRG, if there are any, will go toward marketing or be redistributed.
The Nederland Economic Development Corporation board will hold a public hearing at 4:30 p.m. Monday at the NEDC office, 1903 Atlanta Ave., to discuss the potential funding of an amount not to exceed $100,000.
Port Arthur City Council is expected to discuss the issue at its 8:30 a.m. meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 18, City Manager Floyd Johnson, said on Friday.
Groves City Manager D.E. Sosa, who also works with the city’s EDC, said he is in the process of getting the information to the EDC board to find out what their position is on the matter. As of Friday afternoon there was no meeting scheduled.
The Port Neches EDC has made a financial commitment toward the MRG fund but not to the extent the county requested.
The PNEDC has made a commitment of $30,000, PNEDC President Terry Schwertner said. The issue will have to go through two readings by the city council before final approval is given.
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