Jasper County airport manager fired over financial issues. Disputes continue
The Ridgeland-Claude Dean Airport is in search of a new airport manager after Jasper County officials fired its previous one over alleged financial mismanagement issues.
Danny Lucas, Jasper County’s former airport manager and director of development services, was fired on June 30 after working for the county for about five years. In Lucas’s termination letter, County Administrator Andrew Fulghum wrote that Lucas failed to pay for his aircraft’s property taxes while working as a county official.
“As the airport manager, you set the example, and your failure to keep up with your aircraft’s taxes during years that you were employed by the County is a serious lapse in judgment,” Fulghum wrote.
Lucas’s termination comes amid a broader dispute between the occupants of the private plane hangars and those on the county council that want to upgrade the facilities at the municipal airport.
Termination Timeline
Before Lucas’s firing, county officials, including Fulghum, questioned whether he had paid aircraft property taxes from 2019 through 2021. Lucas admitted he had not. In an interview with The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette, Lucas said he never received documentation requesting payment.
He said his aircraft has been based at the Statesboro–Bulloch County Airport in Bulloch County, Georgia since around 2022. Before that, it was housed at Baron Field-Dublin Municipal Airport in Laurens County, Georgia. During discussions with county officials, the focus turned to where Lucas paid personal property taxes for 2023 and 2024. He responded that he paid in Bulloch County.
Lucas said he did not pay taxes in Jasper County to avoid being taxed twice. However, after receiving a delinquency notice from Jasper County for 2022, he said he paid the owed amount in early July.
Dispute with hangar occupants
Lucas’s departure comes during ongoing tensions between county officials and hangar owners at the airport. As manager, Lucas led efforts to modernize operations in response to the county’s rapid population growth. Since 2020, Jasper County has seen an estimated population increase of nearly 20% since 2020 and about 31% since 2014.
The modernization process included ensuring federal compliance and updating lease agreements — changes that many pilots and hangar owners argue will force them to abandon or demolish their hangars.
On July 21, Jasper County Council is expected to discuss — and potentially vote on — a new leasing policy that in just one part could require owners of expired leases with return clauses to allow tenants to renew their hangar’s rent up to four times. After, tenants may request renewal every year or have their hangars forfeited to the county, which, according to hangar owners, could potentially lose them millions of dollars.
