It strikes us as a bit funny that fiscal common sense is finally starting to dawn on some county lawmakers when it comes to spending on the Chautauqua County Airport at Jamestown.

Fred Johnson, R-Westfield, questioned the $212,000 cost of designs for a terminal apron and $469,920 for 34 new airfield guidance signs, both at the Jamestown airport. The projects come with a local share of $5,300 and $11,748, respectively.

We give Johnson credit for his opposition. Most local officials would look at the relatively low local share of these projects and rubber stamp the receipt of federal funds. We’re glad to see someone question spending what seems like a lot of money for relatively simple projects. Johnson, along with legislators Thomas Carle, Dan Pavlock and Bob Scudder, blanched at what they see as a waste of taxpayer funding for these projects.

We agree. Just because the money is from the federal government doesn’t mean it should be spent foolishly. We have a hard time believing the terminal apron design project or airfield signs should really cost more than $680,000. These are the types of projects that people talk about when they talk about waste, fraud and abuse in government contracts. The work may need to be done, but it can surely be done for less. At the very least, show us that it can’t be done for less.

We also wonder if the common sense shown by Johnson, Scudder, Carle and Pavlock will extend to the mother of all Jamestown airport-related questions. We’re talking, of course, about the county’s latest attempt to bring back Essential Air Service. Four county lawmakers had a problem with spending $680,000 and some change on projects the federal government thinks are necessary for the Jamestown airport to continue to be used in its current state, but at the same time we think nothing of asking for $4,053,386 in federal funding to bring federally subsidized air service back to Jamestown.

More lawmakers need to look at federal spending on the Jamestown airport as Carle, Pavlock, Scudder and Johnson do. Every federal dollar spent needlessly is a dollar that can’t be spent on something worthwhile. In a way, the lawmakers questioning the federally funded projects at the Jamestown airport have made the case for not bringing Essential Air Service back to Jamestown.

During the full legislature meeting, Johnson expressed his opposition to the airport resolutions.

“It’s just too much money for us to be signing off on it this easily,” he said.

We couldn’t agree more – for the resolutions in question or Essential Air Service.