Accountability Airports must submit an annual report to the DOT secretary detailing all amounts the airport paid to other governmental units and the purposes for those payments, as well as all services and property the airport provided to other governmental units and the compensation received for them. FAA has developed standardized forms for both reports, which must be submitted within 120 days of the end of an airport s fiscal year. The audit report must include a review and opinion of the appropriateness of the disposition of airport funds paid or transferred to a sponsor. The revenue use policy provides for several sanctions for noncompliance, but Corbett wonders whether punishing airports is always the most practical means of enforcement. This is an issue that comes up in some of the audits.
Sanctions sometimes injure innocent parties.
The FAA s revenue use policy will be a useful tool for airports in one respect, Corbett points out. Dozens of OIG audits of airports have been conducted since attention of illegal revenue diversion became the focus of congressional scrutiny in 1994. Many turned up some form of improper revenue diversion. Much of the illegal revenue diversions involved money spent on redeveloping Stapleton in preparation for its sale. In fact, it appears that the redevelopment plan is, in effect, an urban renewal project.