When the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority opened for business in January 2003, it needed experienced professionals to run operations and it needed them fast.
Airport officials say that's one of the reasons the public agency spent $665,000 in relocation benefits to woo 10 executives to San Diego in the past four years, much like corporations do.
They also cited the competition for employees in the aviation industry and San Diego's expensive real estate market.
To attract employees, the authority paid for temporary housing, house-hunting trips and moving expenses for the executives. It also spent about $195,000 on closing costs for homes bought and sold by the incoming executives – a practice other public agencies in the county say they don't use.
Here's how it worked for Bret Lobner. The authority hired him away from Los Angeles World Airports in 2003 to be its general counsel.
The authority paid for Lobner to stay in temporary housing with monthly rents as high as $3,600 until he found a home in San Diego. Then, when the attorney purchased a $750,000 home in University Heights in 2004, the authority picked up Lobner's $53,520 tab for “reasonable and customary” closing costs, which included real estate broker fees.
In all, the authority spent almost $139,000 on relocation expenses to hire Lobner, who makes about $189,000 annually.
The San Diego Union-Tribune obtained the records on the expenses through requests under the state Public Records Act.
State Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, has introduced a bill that would create an independent committee to oversee airport authority spending. Kehoe questioned why such relocation incentives were given to so many executives.
“You can still run a good, solid operation and not have to pay those kinds of benefits,” Kehoe said.
Thella Bowens, the authority's president and chief executive, said the benefits were required to lure highly qualified executives to a city with a high cost of living.
“People coming from other markets just don't want to move here,” Bowens said. “We think that everybody wants to live in the sunshine, and everybody does. But no one wants to lose money in making a transition to a new community.”
It also wasn't the best time to be buying a home in San Diego County. From October 2003 to October 2004, the median price for a house in the county increased 26 percent to $489,000 – the first-ever $100,000-plus price jump.
Vernon Evans, who was hired from the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to be vice president of finance, received about $74,000 in relocation benefits, including roughly $23,000 in closing costs.
“If it wasn't provided, I wouldn't be here,” said Evans, who makes $194,500 annually.
Bowens said the authority researched those expenses and found that other airports offer similar benefits. A copy of that research shows that only one of 13 U.S. airports surveyed – Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority in the nation's capital – pays for closing costs.
But Tara Hamilton, a public affairs manager at the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, said her agency does not pay for closing costs on executive's homes or help finance home purchases.
The airport authority subsequently provided information that the Port of Seattle, which runs the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, pays for closing costs. The Union-Tribune contacted six other independent airport agencies and none pays for closing costs. Neither does the San Diego Unified Port District, which used to run the airport.
Compared with private companies, the airport authority appears to be in line with average relocation costs.
Relocation Coordinates Inc., a San Diego company that specializes in relocation services, said private companies in San Diego pay an average of $64,500 to move upper-tier directors and executives here. Several help with closing costs.
Kehoe said no public agency should be comparing itself to the private sector.
The airport authority has no policy on what it will pay for relocation expenses, but its nine-member board is considering creating one following the Union-Tribune's questions, said Alan Bersin, the board chairman.
In a recent interview, Bowens repeatedly said the authority did what it had to do to attract professionals who are serving the community well.
“Every situation was different, and we tried to help people get into the community in a situation that met their family needs,” Bowens said. “We weren't trying to give people a caviar experience.”
Craig Gustafson: (619) 293-1399; craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com
