City Also Gets Stuck With Over $280K In Debt From Bankrupt School

Abandoned by the now-defunct Silver State Helicopters, hangar space at New Braunfels Municipal Airport in Texas is now back in the hands of the city.

As reported by ANN, Silver State helicopters abandoned students and creditors in February after ceasing operations abruptly after a string of allegations of unsavory business practices and potential fraud.

According to the Herald Zeitung, the company’s assets, including the hangar space in the city of New Braunfels, TX, were frozen by a federal bankruptcy court in Nevada for a period of more than 150 days.

After nearly five months, enough time has passed to require the court to turn over control of the hangars back to the city since it was not claimed as one of the company’s significant assets, according to New Braunfels City Manager Mike Morrison.

“The deadline has passed for anyone to lay any claim to the leases on the hangars,” Morrison said. “We’re in the process of preparing request for proposals to begin the process of re-leasing those hangars, and finding someone to take over the tower operations.”

As part of a flight training program the school had introduced, the control tower at the airport was also operated by Silver State. The city was forced to hire independent contractors to operate it when the school went bankrupt.

Silver State was in the process of relocating its headquarters from Las Vegas, NV to New Braunfels when it filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 4.

The bankruptcy also left the city holding the tab for $280,000 in fuel it had been buying on credit, unmade lease payments and outstanding bills.

The city transferred $280,000 on June 16 to the airport fund out of the general fund to make up for the financial shortfall.

“The airport is a self-sustaining entity,” said Deborah Korinchock, the city’s chief financial officer. “The city can’t legally operate (the airport) in the red, so it was necessary to transfer those funds to make it whole again.”

The New Braunfels City Council held a closed-door executive session on June 9 to determine the options available in finding new tenants.

An unnamed source said that at least one company has made a preliminary offer to take over the hangar lease, operate the tower and absorb all of the $280,000 debt.

Airport Director Andy Spinks said there were already as many as seven tenants willing to take over the space.

Morrison anticipated that the city would send requests for proposals in the next few weeks.

FMI: www.newbraunfelsairport.com