Contract Negotiation Time: Gold Coast Is In the Driver's Seat

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It's time for the City of Lumberton to re-negotiate their contract with the Gold Coast Skydivers. Currently, the City of Lumbeton is getting $100/month in fees while the Gold Coast Skydivers is raking in thousands of dollars every week from sky jumps, equipment sales, etc. Gold Cost Skydivers are also enjoying the benefits of having all those travel trailers on the property free of charge while the City of Lumberton pays the bills, including the electric bill. Note: they are paying their own water bill, but since there is not sewer connections, the bill mostly likely don't include a sewer fee which can be just as much as the water bill. City attorney, Lindsey Carter, did point out that when the current contract expires in February of 2012, the City of Lumberton will have a new building. But that's like comparing apples and oranges since the Gold Coast Skydivers are the only ones benefiting from the hundreds of thousands of dollars that was secured by the City of Lumberton through FAA-AIP Grants. When the contract with Gold Coast Skydivers was originally negotiated, it was reported that the City of Lumberton would benefit from a tax-base that would generate over a million dollars in revenue. Before the ink was dry, the group presented the City of Lumberton with paperwork that showed they were a non-profit, tax-exempt organization and that meant the City of Lumberton would only get the $100/month they're receiving from Gold Coast.
The Gibson-Johnson appointed building inspector, Johnny Buckley, brought it to the attention of the board that the beacon light is out at the airport and according to FAA regulations, the airport should be closed until the beacon light is repaired. Gibson-Johnson did not want the airport closed despite the fact that Lumberton would be liable for any fines/damages due to the beacon light being non-functioning. Mayor Holder wanted to know why the airport committee didn't report this to the board and Bobby Gibson stated that he was informed about this matter some time ago, but never mentioned it to the Mayor. I don't know what steps they're planning on taking to correct the problem, but I hope the contract negotiations go better than the discussion taken regarding the non-functional beacon light.

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