Toccoa-Stephens County Airport Receives Part of $28-million State Grant Funding

Photo courtesy Toccoa-Stephens County Chamber of Commerce

The Toccoa-Stephens County Airport will be receiving part of $28-million dollars in grant monies through the Georgia Department of Community Affairs.

Governor Nathan Deal made the announcement June 4th following an announcement from the Department of Revenue stating it will suspend collection of local jet fuel sales tax in order to comply with Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations.

Deal said the funding is included in the amended FY2018 budget, and the grants are based on the remaining time and monthly average of each community’s Special Local Option Sales Tax, and will be disbursed by DCA by the end of this fiscal year.

Stephens County’s current SPLOST has 24 months left on it and runs out June 30th 2020.

The Toccoa-Stephens County Airport will receive $3,939.

Airport Manager Will Cobb said Monday the Airport Authority Board will discuss how best to use the funding at their regular meeting this week.

However, Cobb says he has a number of projects the monies could be used for.

“We’ve got our meeting on Wednesday and that’s one of the items on the agenda,” Cobb said. “Obvioulsy, that money will go back into making improvements to the airport. I’ve got some paving projects that I would like to get done this year and I have a hanger that I’d like to reskin. So any of that money, when we get that, that’s where it will go – back into the structure of the airport itself.”

Cobb said he has not yet learned exactly when the airport will be receiving the grant monies.

Other Northeast Georgia county airports receiving grant funding include Barrow, Jackson, and Dawson counties.  Read the complete list of recipient airports here: 2018 Grant Amounts – SPLOST Jet Fuel