News Flash

Local and state leaders have worked to reach a compromise that would keep Smith Reynolds airport within the city limits, but would create a special airport tax arrangement whereby property owners located at the airport would pay half of the city tax rate and half of the county tax rate, Mayor Allen Joines announced.

This move reduces property taxes for real or personal property by 50 percent and would put Smith Reynolds on an equal competitive footing with other airports in the region and state, Joines said.

Joines worked with N.C. Rep. Donny Lambeth and County Commissioner Don Martin to design the plan after Lambeth and three other Forsyth legislators filed the bill to remove the airport from Winston-Salem’s city limits in late March. Lambeth will file a substitute bill to create the airport zone.

 Joines said that the compromise demonstrates the ability of elected officials to address concerns around a sensitive issue. He is also pleased that the compromise allows the city to work more closely with citizens in the Northeast Ward to address recent environmental concerns. He emphasized that this bill does not put any of the nearby residents at a disadvantage in any way.

“As part of this arrangement, the city has agreed to work with the county to find an immediate solution to the erosion problems that are threatening a number of residents who live close to the airport,” Joines said.

Lambeth said that the airport tax arrangement allows the airport to compete effectively while lessening the financial impact on the city and that he is pleased that the city and county were able to reach this compromise.

Martin said that the move offers long-term advantages for the airport.  “Forsyth County believes that as we become more competitive, additional aircraft and investment will be made at Smith Reynolds.”