WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — A bill coursing through the Legislature proposes renaming Palm Beach County’s airport after President Donald Trump, which would cost an estimated $5.5 million.
Airport revenue would have to foot the bill unless the state provides funding, or grants are acquired, Palm Beach International Airport spokesperson Rebeca Krogman said in an email.
The estimated $5.5 million in costs would go toward signage and uniform replacement, equipment rebranding, promotional items, and systems and technology updates, Krogman said.
An analysis for the Legislature that accompanied the bill didn’t provide a cost estimate, only saying the county “may incur indeterminate costs.”
“The county has identified potential fiscal concerns relative to the proposed renaming,” the analysis states. “Similarly, the county has asserted that it might incur some liability under state and federal law in connection with trademark and right of publicity claims.”
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The airport bill, SB 706 — introduced by state Sen. Debbie Mayfield, R-Indialantic — would grant the state authority to name Florida’s seven major commercial service airports in Florida. In addition to Palm Beach International Airport, the list also includes Miami International Airport, Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and Orlando International Airport.
The only proposed name change so far is for Palm Beach County’s airport. The name change would be subject to approval by the Federal Aviation Administration and the execution of an agreement between Palm Beach County and the trademark holder authorizing the commercial use of the name Donald J. Trump International Airport.
Already, some lawmakers have expressed that their constituents may not want the airports in their area to be changed.
During a recent Community Affairs Committee, State Sen. Barbara Sharief, D-Davie, asked about the possibility of excluding the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood airport from the bill.
“I’m just expressing a concern by my county, which is Broward, that they don’t want their airport renamed,” Sharief said. “I don’t have a problem with renaming Palm Beach County, but our county wants to keep the name of their airport.”
In response to Sharief, Mayfield said she believes the “will of the people in the community” would prevail.
“I would think that if someone was to come through the legislative process and want to change the names of those current airports that it might be with resistance and that it would be the legislative will whether to do it or not to do it,” she said. “We could turn it down if the Legislature did not think that this was a good idea to do.”
Palm Beach County Commissioner Maria Sachs said she believes renaming the county’s airport after the sitting president could be an economic boost.
“This is the first president to ever make Palm Beach County his home. So, I’m sure that he will want to put some interest into expansion of our airport and modernization of our airport,” she said. “But I’m firmly convinced that they must pay for this action because our county citizens had no opportunity to opine on it, discuss it or to vote on it. So I’m sure that the state and federal government will pick up the cost, and while they’re at it, maybe they can put some improvements on our airport.”
Palm Beach International has been a “beautiful little boutique airport,” Sachs said, but given the county’s growth, it could be time for it to become “a well-recognized, modern global airport,” which this name change could initiate.
“I don’t have any control over this as a county commissioner, so I like to look at it in a positive sense rather than to criticize, and so with the renaming after the office of the presidency of the United States, I look forward to a modernization of our beautiful airport to really to keep pace with the economic growth in our county and the population growth in our county,” Sachs said.
The proposal for the name change to “Donald J. Trump International Airport” comes amid heightened scrutiny over local government spending as part of a broader effort by state officials to campaign for property tax reform.
Palm Beach County is among the many local governments that faced criticism from Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia. He claimed in December that county government officials “overspent” by more than $344 million last year.
The irony of this proposed costly name change isn’t lost on Sachs: “I welcome state funding for our airport because certainly the state wants us to be very circumspect when it comes to taking care of county issues in our budget,” she said.
When the Department of Governmental Efficiency recently released a long-awaited report providing specific “misspending” examples for municipalities across the state, Palm Beach County was called out for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training, health services, paratransit services, homeless resources, and employee salary and overtime expenses.
County officials were quick to justify their spending and argued DOGE’s report lacked substance, saying the state’s figures didn’t add up and pointing out how prices have skyrocketed.
The airports bill also is consistent with a primary issue currently reigning in Florida, which is taking away “as much local rule as possible,” Sachs said.
“That’s why I want them to fund (the airport renaming),” she said. “If the state government wants to take over, they need to pay for it.”
