PBI is now DJT. But the president’s airport may not get the full Trump rebrand
Palm Beach International Airport is now Donald J. Trump International Airport, after the formal name change took effect Thursday — but the airport will only see a partial makeover since Palm Beach County was left holding the bag to pay for presidential tribute.
Late last year, county staff raised a slew of safety, financial and legal concerns to state legislators who were proposing a state law forcing the airport name change. The county was assured they’d receive the necessary $5.5 million in taxpayer funds to pay for the changes, rendering most of their fears moot.
But instead, Palm Beach County was only granted $2.75 million from the state budget to implement the state-mandated airport name change.
Now, some signs will likely continue to say Palm Beach International Airport. How quickly the airport is fully Trump-ified will likely hinge on how much in taxpayer funds the state is willing to invest in the airport.
The county says they won’t be digging into their already stretched airport reserves to cover the rest of the conversion costs — they’ll just implement only half the necessary changes instead.
“I’m not prone to making the full scale changes until the other half of our request is met,” said Palm Beach County Administrator Joseph Abruzzo.
“We will be able to make the baseline, necessary changes to signage with the $2,750,000. But for the full extensive signage, we will be needing the other half of those funds from the state,” he said, adding that he’s hoping a separate pot of state Department of Transportation funding will come through later this year to cover the rest of the costs.
The funding fight and potentially confusing signage changes mark the latest controversy over Florida’s new law requiring Palm Beach County to rename Trump’s hometown airport after him, while he’s still in office. There are two ongoing lawsuits trying to stop the name change, one from a South Florida pilot raising safety concerns and another from a progressive congressional candidate.
The county approved a deal with Trump’s team for the trademark to his name in May — while they were still anticipating receiving the full state funding for the changes — that could leave openings for Trump’s businesses and family members to benefit from the taxpayer-funded name change. That agreement also gave Trump veto power about how his name, biography and image are represented in the airport.
The White House has already been touting the name change, posting a photo of the newly updated highway signage for the airport.
The airport’s public-facing website isn’t clear-cut about who’s paying for the changes.
In a question-and-answer section about the name change, airport staff asked, “Will property taxes be used to pay for the transition?” and provided the answer: “No. The transition will be funded by airport revenues or other airport funding sources. A state funding appropriation may also be provided to support the transition.”
The use of airport revenue instead of taxpayer dollars to fund the changes could put other airport safety and improvement projects at risk, according to a letter county staff sent to state legislators late last year.
“Reserve funding is not available for the changes required. Higher priority projects for asset preservation, such as roof and elevator replacement, and airfield rehabilitation are critical and cannot be delayed,” Palm Beach County’s Legislative Affairs Director Alessandro Marchesani told the Florida House and Senate staffers in December, according to emails obtained by the Herald.
Abruzzo, the county administrator, insisted none of those projects have been put on hold and the county will not be redirecting airport funds to the renaming effort — despite the airport website’s claim about airport revenues funding the effort.
Neither Senate President Ben Albritton nor House Speaker Daniel Perez responded to questions about why the county wasn’t granted the funding to implement the changes in their funding negotiations, after the state had forced the county to make the change. Perez has since been nominated by Trump to be the U.S. ambassador to Brazil.
Meg Weinberger, the Trump-endorsed Palm Beach County state representative who sponsored the legislation for the airport’s name change, said in a statement, “The state and county are coordinating to ensure necessary funding,” in response to detailed questions about why the county’s expected funding fell through.
The airport is expected to continue operating as usual amid the name change. The Federal Aviation Authority is scheduled to change its internal code from PBI to DJT this week for pilots, according to the airport, but passengers looking for flights should continue using the code PBI until Aug. 18.
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