Gold Mine for Gold Coast Skydivers: Who's Getting Kick-Backs?

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As I was driving past the airport, I noticed the large number of trailers stationed at the airport. Keep in mind that someone looking to build a home in Lumberton was forced to jump through fiery hoops just to get approval to put her trailer on her property. Since I’m not your average bear, I wonder if there’s water /sewer services at the airport? I wonder how much visitors are getting charged to use those housing units? Trust…they’re paying and Gold Coast Skydivers are banking the profits. When it comes time to renegotiate their contract, they claim they’re barely making ends meet but somehow they’ve made enough money in Lumberton (on saving alone) to buy another airplane and set up another diving school in Louisiana. Must be nice to have control over an entire airport for $350/month while the City of Lumberton use their resources and taxes to pay for ALL the improvements. Well, the Gold Coast Skydivers cut the grass every now and then. What a deal! (sarcasm fully intended)

If you zoom in on the picture, it look like they’re putting down stakes and cinder blocks to add at least eight more trailers. I called Hattiesburg and some of their hanger rental fees are $350/month but in Lumberton, a for profit group gets an entire airport for $350/month. When they were negotiating the last contract, Ben Winston insisted this was a good deal for the City of Lumberton. So is he getting kick backs for negotiating this bad deal. Guess what? The trailers are part of the deal. Just imagine if they were getting rental fees on 16 trailers. Even if the rent on each trailer was $75/month, that would be at least $1,200/month for Lumberton. If each trailer rented for $100/month, that would be $1,600/month and that does not include the $350/month for renting the entire airport. The City of Lumberton claim they’re not getting revenue but an opportunity to garner revenue was missed because Ben Winston insisted that we were getting a good deal. Another example of his poor leadership skills. The additional $1,200-$1,600 in trailer rental could easily pay for another police officer and the $350/month in airport rental fees could be used to give raises to the men in the Public Works Department. But we’re losing more money thanks to Mayor Ben Winston: A Businessman Without a Clue.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 21, 2015 at 7:25 AM

    I doubt each of those trailers have separate water and sewer hook ups. I think Johnny Buckley is the one getting the kick backs. They gave that woman a hard time trying to put a trailer on her property but they let them put all these trailers out there with no problems. And yes they charge out of towners a fee to use those trailers. They're making money on everything and Lumberton is getting nothing but used. No wonder they can buy a new plane.

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