The mayor of Stephenville says the new owner of the town’s airport — who has promised to bring back commercial flights, pump hundreds of millions of dollars into construction and build futuristic drones — still hasn’t paid any property tax.
Carl Dymond, who purchased the airport in 2023, currently faces a bill worth nearly $500,000, according to Mayor Tom Rose.
“There is still property taxes owing, but I’m confident that this year that will be taken care of,” said Rose, a staunch defender of the Ottawa-based businessman, during an interview last week at Stephenville town hall.
Bay St. George Chamber of Commerce President Debbie Brake-Patten, who served on the airport’s board before Dymond bought the facility, doesn’t buy it.
“I can’t listen to any more false promises…. Show me some action and then I’ll believe it”, she said, during a recent interview. “We were never supplied with a financial plan that would support what he [Dymond] had intended on doing.”
Dymond didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment Wednesday and Thursday.
On Thursday, the airport asked the town to step in to help with snow clearing after two loaders broke down. In a statement, the airport said it would cover the cost and help from the municipality was needed to ensure emergency landings by air ambulances could continue.
Dymond’s promises
Ottawa-based Dymond announced he’d buy the airport in September 2021, and outlined a series of ambitious plans, including the creation of thousands of jobs.
Nearly two years later, after the airport completed a lengthy insolvency process, a deal was finally inked in August 2023. Dymond took control of the facility, paying just $6.90, while also assuming liabilities worth about $1 million.
Dymond has said he’d build space-age 25-metre-long drones at the airport. The futuristic aircraft would have a payload of nearly 24,000 kilograms.
For now, the drone plant hasn’t got off the ground, nor has a promise to bring commercial flights back to Stephenville. With commercial passengers absent for years, former car rental counters are currently being used to display taxidermied animals.
Rose said he’s still convinced commercial flights will return before long. He said he believes that the World Energy GH2 project promised for the Stephenville area will soon draw airlines back to the airport.
But World Energy said last fall that its plans to produce green hydrogen and ammonia in Stephenville were shelved and that the company had gone back to the drawing board. As recently as last week, a spokesperson refused to provide a timeline for construction.
While a new lighting system has been installed since Dymond took possession of the airport, contractor Tristar Electric sued the airport last summer for $2.4 million in unpaid work.
As of earlier this week, no statement of defence had been filed. The matter is due back in court next month, as Tristar wants a judge to set a date for trial.
Mayor says town saving money
Rose said despite the unpaid property tax, the town is saving money because it’s no longer subsidizing operations at the airport. That subsidy cost the town about $500,000 a year, he said.
“In the last two years we technically saved $1 million of taxpayers money because it’s his [Dymond’s] responsibility now to make the payroll and keep the lights on and so forth,” Rose said.
The mayor said Dymond is still negotiating a grant in lieu of taxes, which could dramatically decrease the airport’s yearly property tax bill. He said those talks are ongoing and that other airports and industrial operations in the province pay grants in lieu of tax.
A year ago, Rose said the still-to-be-finalized grant payment could land at somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 a year.
Brake-Patten said that given Dymond’s track record, she believes the town made a major mistake selling off what was once a publicly-owned asset.
“What we’ve done is lost a great piece of infrastructure for our town,” she said, noting that the airport is essential for the area’s air ambulance service.
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