McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport

recently changed. “Tennessee has been one of the better-funded states up until 2015, because our aviation program is still mainly funded by aviation fuel tax,” he explains. “Because Federal Express is based in Memphis, we reap the benefits of their taxes. However, in 2015, the Governor capped the amount that any entity could pay, which cut $40 million a year out of Tennessee’s aviation budget. So now, we’re working on doing some site development and some grading work on an area that will contain approximately nine 100 X 100-ft. hangars, but they all will be privately developed, once the ramp area and the drainage are put in place.” Smith adds that the Airport is also in the final stages of a pavement rehab and remarking project. “This has been going on for a couple of months, now,” he reports. “About 180,000 cubic feet of cracks have been sealed on the three taxiways, the short runway, the north ramp, and the west ramp. And we’ve done about 100,000 cubic feet of crack sealing on the primary