County investigating Wyoming Valley Airport

Luzerne County Solicitor Vito DeLuca said he is investigating the Wyoming Valley Airport management company’s failure to supply required reports, particularly ones about fuel usage and sales.

The reports are required by Valley Aviation Inc.’s fixed base operator contract with the county. The county is supposed to receive 9 cents of each gallon of fuel pumped at the airport in Wyoming. Valley Aviation paid the county about $2,400 for fuel last year, or the equivalent of roughly 29,000 gallons, officials said.

DeLuca said county Commissioner Chairwoman Maryanne Petrilla and Chief Clerk/Manager Doug Pape authorized him to conduct an investigation, and Valley Aviation has failed to comply with a request for records made several weeks ago.

Valley Aviation President James Scrobola said he was under the impression that his company had already supplied all reports and documents required by its contract in recent years, including logs on fuel.

“If there’s something we were not supplying, why didn’t they say anything all these years?” he said. “We have nothing to hide. We welcome scrutiny.”

DeLuca said he has been independently obtaining fuel sale records from vendors who supplied fuel to Valley Aviation because he did not receive a response from the company.

Scrobola said he has instructed his fuel supplier to provide any requested information.

An outside request for information related to the fuel initially prompted the county to look into the matter, DeLuca said.

Petrilla said the administration will press on to establish whether the county is owed revenue.

“Certainly we don’t want to have another investigation going on, and perhaps this won’t lead to anything, but at the same time everything’s got to be looked at,” Petrilla said. “When we ask questions, we deserve answers, and if we’re not getting them, we’ll look somewhere else.”

Valley Aviation’s contract took effect Jan. 1, 2006, and expires Dec. 31, 2010.

The company paid the county $6,000 per year in rent, with the amount increasing to $12,000 this year.

The county must maintain the airport, while Valley Aviation pays for insurance and operating expenses.

The contract guaranteed the county 5 cents per gallon in fuel pumped at the airport during the first year, increasing up to 1 cent annually to the current 9 cents.

Valley Aviation was required by the contract to submit a full report and invoices of fuel delivered to the facility with each check cut to the county, but DeLuca said there’s no record that any of those documents were submitted with the payments.

The contract gave the county the right to inspect records and audit fuel sales at the county’s expense.

Valley Aviation was also supposed to submit quarterly reports and file annual reports, prepared following accepted accounting standards, in the commissioners’ and controller’s offices. There is no record that those reports were ever filed, officials said.

The contract gives the county the right to terminate the agreement if Valley Aviation fails to pay any money due to the county or fulfill other contractual obligations. Valley Aviation is required to keep all records involving the airport for three years after the agreement is terminated, the contract says.

County minority Commissioner Stephen A. Urban said he has recommended that the Controller’s Office audit the fuel records.

Commissioners decided to switch airport operators in 2005, in large part because the previous operator, Wyoming Valley Aviation, had wanted to transfer the remaining decade of its lease agreement to an aviation group in New Jersey.

Commissioners voted in November 2005 to hire Stella Air Inc. as operator, but the contract was assigned to Valley Aviation, which is under the same ownership, Scrobola said.

Scrobola said he has “nothing to hide” and maintains that his company has turned around the airport.

“We made a lot of improvements without county funding. We have done nothing but help this airport,” he said, citing his company’s purchase of a $21,000 grass cutter, interior building improvements and the removal of trees.

Some taxpayers have suggested selling the airport over the years, but commissioners have always maintained that it’s worth keeping for economic development and quality of life. The facility requires little county general fund subsidy because the state and federal government have funded most capital projects, including runway improvements, officials say.