Dear Editor,
I’m pleased to
announce that after careful consideration and discussions with my better half,
I’ll be running for a third term in the Maine House of Representatives. Like my
constituents, Sheila and I have built a life in Windham and are very proud to
call it home.
I care about my
community and know I still have a lot of important work to do.
Serving Windham’s
people has been the greatest honor of my life and I know that this is repaid by
maintaining a climate of trust with my constituents, doing my homework, and
spending my days putting work before blind partisanship.
To do this, I
make sure I am ever present in Augusta.
I currently sit
on two committees which is a full workload. Since beginning my service, I have
maintained a 100 percent voting and attendance record. If you’re not in the
building or paying attention, it’s impossible to make decisions independently.
I understand that
practicing civility is key.
The most notable
fact about my time in the Maine Legislature is that one party has controlled
the Senate, while the other, the House. Moving the ball forward for the people
means having the ability and willingness to work with everyone in the building.
I’ve demonstrated I can do this.
In the coming
months I will be knocking on doors and visiting businesses throughout Windham
and hoping to hear about your ideas and concerns. I’ve worked hard to make
Windham a good place to live and work, but know that we can make it even better
together.
I look forward to
seeing you on the campaign trail. In the interim, you can learn more about me,
my public service, and my positions on a host of issues by visiting www.coreyforhouse.com.
Best,
Rep. Patrick
Corey
House District
#25 (Windham, part)
Dear
Editor,
Increasing
airline fees is a bad deal for Mainers.
There
is nothing that drives me crazier than tax and fee increases when those increases
are unnecessary. So you can imagine my outrage when I heard of a proposal in
Congress that would increase the Passenger Facilities Charge (PFC.)
The
Passenger Facilities Charge Program allows airlines to charge up to $4.50 per
passenger, with that money going to pay for improvements to airports all across
the country. The new proposal would increase that amount to as much as $8.50
per passenger, burdening families and business travelers with higher fares for
air travel.
I’m
all for making improvements in our nation’s major airports but they don’t need
to gouge the passengers even more to pay for it. These capital projects can be
paid for through existing revenue streams, including the Passenger Facility Charge
(PFC) at the current cap of $4.50. There is no need to increase it even more.
Let’s not forget that airports also have the ability to issue bonds that are
backed by airport revenues and offer favorable financing terms.
Over
the past two decades airport revenues have grown 44 percent and U.S. airports
had almost $12.7 billion of unrestricted cash and investments on hand at the
end of 2015. Federal grants, offered by the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program
and funded through ticket and fuel taxes, are dedicated to infrastructure and
capital improvements.
Bangor
International Airport is in the middle of a $14 million improvement project.
They have begun modernization of the first floor Domestic Terminal.
Construction began in 2014 with refurbishing of the escalators that went into
service in the summer of 2014. The new Ticketing and Passenger Check-In Center
and the new baggage screening system was completed and opened for service in
December 2015. The new ground transportation area and baggage claim area has
been finished and opened 6 months later.
Ninety
percent of the funds for the Bangor project came from federal funding sources
(passenger ticket taxes that fund the Airport Improvement Program “AIP”
and the Passenger Facility Charge) with the remaining 10 percent split between
the Maine Department of Transportation and airport revenues.
The
question is: if all of these projects were already paid for by existing PFC
collection, why do we need to increase this fee on Maine travelers now? If so,
does this need outweigh the importance of encouraging more reasonable travel
rates in and out of Maine, which are already high? Especially as Maine is trying to attract new
businesses to our state?
The
same thing is happening at airports all over the country. Over $100 billion of
capital projects have also been completed or are underway at the nation’s 30
largest airports since 2008. These
include, for example, new runways at Fort Lauderdale, Washington (Dulles),
Seattle, and Charlotte, multiple new runways at Chicago (ORD), new
international facilities at Atlanta and Los Angeles, and new, expanded or
modernized terminals at Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Hawaii, Houston, Denver,
Seattle, Salt Lake City and San Francisco.
My point is that they don’t need the money.
There
are some people serving in the government whose answer to everything is to dig
a little deeper in to the pockets of the American people. That is the wrong
approach, which is why I vehemently oppose any increases to the Passenger
Facilities Charge. I urge everyone to reach out to your representatives in
Washington D.C. and ask them to oppose this unnecessary increase.
Rep.
Sue Austin represents House District
67 in the Maine House of Representatives which includes Gray, Frye Island, and
parts of Casco, and Raymond. She currently serves as the Ranking House
Republican on the Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development Committee
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