Would you like to fly in my beautiful King Air? Scratch that! Start the Suburban
Budget woes will prompt Gov. Butch Otter to stay closer to home as he schedules “Capitol for a Day” visits to communities outside Boise in coming months.
Wayne Hammon, Otter’s budget director, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that budget cuts have prompted the need to economize on one of Otter’s favorite duties. “I have told him that he has to drive to several of these.” Otter’s last Capitol for a Day was in Horseshoe Bend last week.
On long trips, Otter flies on a King Air owned by the Department of Transportation. The cost of the flights are billed to the governor’s office and the agencies who send their top officials with Otter to meet constituents about whatever topic they choose.
Rep. Jim Patrick, R-Twin Falls, urged Hammon to convey to Otter his support of continuing the program, which Otter began in 2007.
Hammon said Otter will keep it up. “Just because you can’t travel to Boise doesn’t mean you lose your right to petition your government,” Hammon replied. “He does plan to continue it, as long as he can afford it. To do so, we’ll see in coming months a lot more driveable locations as opposed to flying.”
Rep. Frank Henderson, R-Twin Falls, suggested the state explore partial ownership of aircraft as an alternative to maintaining its three-plane fleet. Hammon said a recent ITD review found that maintaining the planes was less expensive than exclusively using charter flights. But he said that study did not consider partial ownership as an option. Hammon promised to pass Henderson’s suggestion on to ITD.
Hammon said that using state-owned or chartered aircraft is typically more economical than flying commercial when the value of the time of the governor and other traveling officials is taken into account.
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It's Relative
The "value" of his time?
I wonder what the value is of the actual experience when an official gets to go through the public airport.
And what's the value of sitting next to a constituent for an hour on the airplane???
And what's the value of a 100 constituents actually witnessing the governor on board their plane too. "Hey he's one of us". I'm pretty sure that has a LOT of voter value.
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Of course KR and the Statesman think Otter is so rich, he can just pay for his own charter flights. Kinda like foregoing the housing allowance... right?
The King Air is "owned" by the DOT?
Silly me, all along, I thought that the aircraft might have, somehow, been owned by the taxpayers of Idaho. Whether the aircraft are utilized or not, the taxpayers are still paying for day to day operations of the Aeronautics Division. As far as one state agency paying another state agency for the use of the aircraft, it still means the taxpayer pays the final costs.
I don't believe for a second that the IDT's review, stating that maintaining the planes, was less expensive than chartering on call aircraft.
The Cessna 182 operates under a "restricted" category, which lessens the use of the aircraft in overall operations. This aircraft is registered to the Idaho Fish and Game. A large portion of their aerial work, requires low level, slow flight, operations. Hence, they end up contracting helicopter operators, that operate and maintain their aircraft under the stingent part 135, air taxi regulations. Something that the Idaho Division of Aeronautics does not do.
You act as though we own a stupid airline! Please....
The government has to work with vehicles that serve the citizens efficiently. Whining about every penny is approaching the sublime end of dementia in some cases.
If you had the job of flying it, would you stop decrying it?
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