ITHACA, N.Y. — The U.S. Customs Facility at the Ithaca-Tompkins International Airport, celebrated at its 2018 groundbreaking as a way to make Ithaca a global destination, will close just four years after it opened following a tenure marked by sizable financial losses and little usage.
After brief comments from Airport Director Roxan Noble and some discussion, the Tompkins County Legislature voted 13-1 in favor of closing the facility. Legislator Mike Lane, a Democrat, was the sole vote against the closure.
The vote brought to close months of discussion around the facility, which became emblematic of the airport’s overall financial struggles since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023 alone, the facility lost around $258,000 while servicing 26 flights, which generated just over $15,000 in revenue.
The facility has handled a similar number of flights so far this year. The decision to close the facility, which will take effect in the coming months, means the local airport can no longer receive international flights without passengers or cargo first going through the U.S. Customs entry process elsewhere.
Airport Director Roxan Noble submitted a memo to the legislature offering her recommendation that the facility be closed and repurposed. However, she did not offer any specific ideas and no final decisions have been made regarding the space’s future use.
“Due to the ongoing finances and lack of revenue to cover the operational costs of the Customs Facility, regrettably I believe the only course of action is to recommend its closure,” Noble said. “Customs operations have not met revenue expectations since its inception, and it’s likely the facility could be used for a more revenue-positive purpose benefiting the airport.”
The resolution to close the facility moved quickly through the Facilities and Infrastructure Committee and the Budget, Capital and Personnel Committee last month. Lane was the only dissenting voice among legislators during that process, as he was at Tuesday’s meeting. He argued closing the facility would abandon an opportunity for future economic growth.
During previous meetings, Lane argued that investing taxpayer money to keep the facility open would be beneficial to the public — referencing the county’s stopgap funding of its recycling program when revenues steeply fell.
“I don’t think it’s beyond the realm of reasonable expectation to keep supporting the customs facility,” Lane said Tuesday night. “We [should] have this opportunity at the airport, because the airport’s going to grow, and the number of flights is going to grow, and the passenger usage is going to grow.”
But other legislators outweighed Lane. Those who spoke emphasized that the decision was not a reflection on airport staff or the airport overall.
“I don’t want people to think this vote to close the customs facility is a vote of ‘no confidence’ in the airport, it’s a chance for us to refocus on our more urgent priorities,” Sigler said. “I think we should look at this, instead of a closure, as more of a refocus on the core things that we are told need to get done there. We need lower prices for flights, that’s a constant theme. We need better routes [….] and we need more routes.”
Legislator Deborah Dawson, a Democrat, echoed Sigler’s sentiment, reasoning that four years should have been enough time for the customs facility to gain the necessary financial foothold.
“Other things are recovering from the pandemic, and this just never really has,” Dawson said.
The facility was opened in fall 2020, part of a $24.7 million renovation and terminal expansion project fueled by $14 million from a grant through the Upstate Airport Initiative (UAI). Five million dollars of the UAI grant was allocated specifically for the construction of the customs facility, which cost $6 million total to construct.
That grant requires a 40-year useful life for the facility, but its use can be changed as long as the facility still serves the public and the airport. According to Noble’s memo, airport officials have been in touch with the state to ensure its future use adheres to the UAI grant’s criteria, and the airport can terminate its customs agreement with the federal government with 120 days notice.
In response to a question from Republican legislator Randy Brown, Noble said in order to meet the state’s guidelines the facility must be used for something airport-related and publicly accessible or for the public’s benefit.