Pictured: Airport Commission Members Greg Siemann (left) and Norman Hutcheson (right), present the airport’s FY27 budget at the Feb. 2, 2026 meeting.
Members of the Carroll Airport Commission presented their proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 budget to city officials during last night’s (Monday) work session and outlined their reasoning behind a new, $1.6 million hangar at the Arthur N. Neu Municipal Airport. Greg Siemann, a longtime member of the airport commission, says corporate jets, including turboprops, owned by companies that operate in Carroll, such as Pella, Federal Signal, and Core-Mark, no longer fit inside the existing hangar.
Siemann points to the recent crash of a private jet at Bangor International Airport in Bangor, Maine. Initial circumstances suggest that ice accumulation on the aircraft during a snowstorm caused the accident, but official reports from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) may take several years to be released. Siemann says a similar situation could occur here if the Carroll Airport lacks the facilities to house larger aircraft.
Only about a quarter of the project’s $1.6 million price tag would come from local sources, with a $390,000 investment from the Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) Fund, as the project would be directly tied to economic development. The remaining $1.18 million would be sourced through federal and state grants. At-Large Councilman Jeff Cayler notes that most residents don’t think about the airport regularly and asked Siemann to explain what it brings to the community.
No formal action was taken during Monday’s budget work session. The city’s various departments will present their budgets to the council, and any adjustments will be incorporated into the FY27 City of Carroll budget.
