Sunday, June 16, 2013

Taunton Municipal (KTAN), Massachusetts: Airport to be paid as ‘employee,’ not contractor

By Charles Winokoor,  Taunton  Gazette

Posted June 15, 2013,  11:06 PM


TAUNTON —

The commission representing Taunton Municipal Airport this week signed a new contract changing the way the airport is funded by the city.

The East Taunton airport, as does Taunton Nursing Home and John F. Parker Municipal Golf Course, operates as an enterprise system that generates its own revenue to cover the bulk of operational expenses and salaries.

The airport commission is allocated a modest, annual sum out of the city budget. The amount in the fiscal 2014 preliminary budget is just $10,000 to cover a part-time clerk and fuel attendants.

But for decades the city has provided a 1099 IRS form and paid the airport on the basis or it being an independent contractor and not an actual municipal employee.

With the signing of the new contract that has finally changed.

“We changed the structure,” City Solicitor Jason D. Buffington said.

Buffington said he insisted on the change because the prior arrangement did not fully comply with state and federal wage law.

“We noticed it when the contracts came up for renewal,” he said.

Buffington says the city is going to pay a limited liability company created by airport manager Daniel Raposa.

“The LLC is the employee,” Buffington said. “It’s now responsible for running the airport.”

Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. said his law department did the right thing. The last thing he said he wants is a replay of a legal action brought against the city before he came into office.

“The city lost a significant lawsuit a few years back, and we do not want to go down that road again,” Hoye said, referring to the new approach as a “prudent decision.”

“We just can’t have 1099 employees — it’s a legal liability at the end of the day,” he added.

The mayor would not say how much the city was forced to pay when it lost that court case.

And he doesn’t blame former mayor Charles Crowley. The city, unfortunately, had through the years become complacent with its fiscal arrangement with the airport, Hoye said.

City employees, unlike independent contractors, are entitled to disability coverage, health insurance and unemployment benefits.

Attempts to reach airport manager Daniel Raposa were unsuccessful.

Taunton attorney William Manganiello, who in 2012 was appointed as an airport commissioner, said the previous arrangement did “not past muster” in terms of compliance with labor and IRS statute.

Manganiello says the issue of  whether or not the airport is an independent contractor or a municipal employee had become a distraction; he says meetings were held throughout May and into June.

“I’m pretty comfortable with the whole thing. Now we can get on with the real function of the airport,” he said.

Manganiello said the commission is working on a new master plan to increase revenue. The airport has been relying on revenues and fees from fuel sales, ground leases and tie-downs of planes, he said.

Manganiello said the airport would benefit by selling jet fuel so that state police and MedFlight helicopters don’t bypass Taunton in favor of New Bedford or Norwood to refuel.

He also points out that executives for Berkshire Hathaway-owned Jordan’s Furniture and other business leaders have likewise not found it convenient to land their private jets in Taunton.

Manganiello estimates the new contract will require an additional $15,000 and $20,000 to cover employee benefits. He said he’s not sure the city’s fiscal 2014 budget will provide that. If so, he said, the airport will have to find a way to raise extra revenue.

He acknowledges there was risk involved, fiscally speaking, by changing the pay structure with the city. But, he said, “It’s less risky then if we get sued.”

Manganiello praised Hoye for recently appointing four new commissioners, thereby expanding the body from five to seven members.

He also said every commissioner, himself included,  for the first time ever is a licensed pilot.

Raposa, whom Manganiello said through the years has done an overall “a good job” as manager, has never piloted a plane, he added. But for now, at least, he said that in itself will not become a bone of contention.

Source:  http://www.tauntongazette.com

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