Agency flees responsibility

“Trust us. We’re here from the federal government and we’re here to help you.”
Richmond International Airport might have been skeptical, but it had little choice but to accept the government’s dubious offer more than five years ago. Now it’s paying the price.
While engaged in a $38.6 million terminal expansion project, the airport also was upgrading its security, including baggage handling.
The Transportation Security Administration wanted the upgrade to include explosive-detection systems.
The systems would cost $4 million — and TSA said it would pay 90 percent of the price.
If the systems weren’t built to TSA specifications, then RIC would not be eligible for any reimbursement at all. No other security designs would qualify.
So, RIC built the systems.
It’s still waiting for the money.
“We’ve been arguing for this money for years,” said airport President and CEO, Jon Mathiasen. “In our budget, $3.6 million is a lot of money.”
Unfortunately, RIC likely will continue to wait for payment. The TSA says it simply has no money to hand out in reimbursement payments.
Classic. The government leans on the local agency to enforce its own mandate, promises payment to assist — then reneges on the promise.
The local agency is left holding the bag.
Sen. Jim Webb and Sen. Mark R. Warner say they are looking into this.
There are several directions they should look.
TSA is an outfit with a decidedly mixed record, even in implementing critical improvements post-9/11.
But Congress is also to blame. Legislators allocate money here, there and everywhere — but often never get around to appropriating it.
That’s Congress’s own version of promising to pay but never actually doing so.
In fact, lawmakers generally don’t know (or perhaps care) whether they have revenue on hand or in the offing with which to pay those promises.
In Washington, promises are now, payments are the distant future, and money is virtual.
At the state and local levels, where bricks and mortar are laid down — and security systems installed — money is real and payments are now.
We hope our senators can get the TSA to see the difference. Then maybe they can work on their own colleagues.
Meanwhile, the TSA did leave the airport folks with one final, ironic offer.
It said it would be happy to work with RIC “on potential future security-enhancement projects.”
We bet it would — by shifting the cost.