Gregg County commissioners on Monday OK’d an annual lease of a former LeTourneau Inc. airplane hangar to the Texas Department of Public Safety as a helicopter home.
The vote was not unanimous, as debate closed in on what value the chopper brings to Gregg County residents. The hangar, at East Texas Regional Airport, is one of several bases from which DPS stages mainly drug interdiction from the air. The craft also is used during manhunts or searches in its 14-county service area.
“Is $1,500 a month enough?” Commissioner Darryl Primo asked, citing the monthly lease payments due to Gregg County. “I don’t see where we’re getting any type of return on our investment with that rent.”
Sheriff Maxey Cerliano said the lease is a standard one the Department of Public Safety signs with other counties that host DPS helicopters. He said the county will be reimbursed its purchase price over the life of the lease.
Primo also repeated criticism he raised a year ago when the county bought the hangar for $380,000 despite its value of $78,300 on tax roles. (A private appraiser hired by the county for $5,000 set the value at $420,000.)
County Judge Bill Stoudt said the contract appraisal looked at the sale prices of similarly sized hangars. Stoudt said the replacement value for the hangar could be as high as $1 million.
“It far outweighs and out-values what we paid for that hangar,” he said. “We never bought it to generate revenue. We bought it to increase our law enforcement presence.”
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