Signs may pop up along the Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort to generate revenue for Luzerne County government, which owns the property, county Manager C. David Pedri said.
“We own some prime real estate on Route 11 by the airport, and there are a whole bunch of billboards on that strip,” he told citizens at his recent public forum.
Pedri said Friday he has requested preparation of a request seeking proposals from companies interested in installing billboards or signs at the airport property and potentially other county-owned sites.
It’s an idea that county officials have tossed around for more than a decade since Harrisburg-based Public Financial Management, the county’s financial consultant, suggested advertising to generate revenue for the cash-strapped county in its 2005 recovery plan.
Public Financial kept the recommendation in its 2015 updated county plan, estimating the county could generate $100,000 annually by allowing advertisement inside or outside county facilities. Governments throughout the country obtain revenue by selling advertising space on billboards and signs, inside restrooms and parking garages, on municipal websites and on street furniture such as benches, trash receptacles and kiosks, the company has said.
Pedri told the citizens at his forum the county must diversify revenue beyond real estate taxes. The county council recently approved a 2017 county budget, including the administration’s recommended 4-percent tax hike.
The Forty Fort airport is a logical choice because it’s a commercial area already containing signs, Pedri said. New signs require zoning approval, and the county also must consult with the fixed-base operator leasing the airport from the county, he said.
“There are a lot of steps, but we have to start the process,” he said.
County-owned land in Butler Township may be another option for a billboard if an amenable location is within view of Interstate 81, he said.
The county owns 407 acres in Butler Township, including some tracts that have been rented to farmers. This doesn’t include 123 acres it leases to the Keystone Job Corps Center for a federally funded, residential education and vocation training program.
Advertising at the courthouse in Wilkes-Barre is not something Pedri advocates. During a 2014 county budget crisis, then-councilman Rick Morelli had proposed a digital sign on the front lawn of the courthouse or some other location to generate income.
“The courthouse is such a beautiful historic area, that would not be our intention,” Pedri said.
The administration twice sought proposals in the summer of 2014 for consultants to identify locations suitable for signs and billboards on county property scattered throughout the region but received only one response from an agency interested in handling the advertising, not the planning, officials said. The purchasing office had contacted at least six area companies to alert them to the consulting opportunity.
At that time, county officials estimated construction of a standard billboard would cost around $60,000 — more for an electronic version. A digital billboard along an interstate highway would generate an estimated $6,000 per month.
