Part-time worker salaries have been increased at the Tullahoma Airport after it was warned the airport might have to shut down for lack of staffing partially due to pay that was less than the cook makes at Sonic.

Alderman Matthew Bird made the announcement during the recent board of mayor and aldermen meeting. The amount of the increase is $4 an hour more. The Part-time employees at the airport work about 330 hours a month total so that will be around $5,500 to cover the rest of the fiscal year.

“That would bring them up at least to working at a fast food restaurant,” Bird noted.

In a recent meeting, members of the Tullahoma Airport Authority warned the low pay had helped add to attrition that left just two staffers at one point. The low staffing, it was suggested, could force the closure of the local airport for safety reasons. One TAA member pointed out that part-time workers at the airport ship highly flammable fuel and work around multi- million dollar aircraft yet they made less than the cook at Sonic.

Along with the hike in pay, Bird said there were a couple of other issues discussed with airport officials at a recent meeting.

Bird said there is a need for an FAA attorney to serve the airport. The estimate is that it will cost $10-15K for attorney fees. The majority of those funds, he noted, would be looking into the airport leases.

“This is to make sure our leases are compliant with FAA grant assurance policies,” he told the board.

He said the third thing taken up during a meeting with airport officials was the contract salary to the interim airport manager of $44,000. “That makes up for the majority of the $54,000 that the airport is currently operating in the negative.”