Allegheny County has received its first payment from state gambling revenues that was expected to reduce debt at Pittsburgh International Airport, but it won't be used to cut costs to the airlines.

Instead, Chief Executive Dan Onorato said yesterday he intends to use the $19.9 million to begin reimbursing the county for the $42.5 million it contributed toward the construction of the airport's midfield terminal, which opened in 1992. The debt on that construction now stands at about $500 million.

The county is expected to receive $150 million over the next decade from a slots-financed state economic development fund to pay down debt at the airport. The $19.9 million was part of a $22.4 million payment the county received on New Year's Eve and represented the first installment.

The money needed to make $62 million in annual debt service payments comes from rates and charges paid by the airlines. The nearly $20 million the county received would have reduced that $62 million payment by nearly one-third.

Costs to the airlines have been going up as US Airways, the airport's dominant carrier, has slashed hundreds of flights over the last six years and cut thousands of jobs in Pittsburgh.

Fees to the airlines this year are increasing anywhere from 33 percent to 64.5 percent to make up for revenue lost by the decision by US Airways to drop 18 of its last 28 gates and to cut another 40 flights. County officials believed that cutting the airlines costs would make the airport more attractive to carriers interested in starting or expanding service.

However, Mr. Onorato insisted he had always intended to recover the $42.5 million the county contributed to passenger terminal construction from the county's share of gambling revenues.

State Sen. Sean Logan, D-Monroeville, said it was always intended that part of the $150 million from slots would go to make the county whole for its investment in the midfield project.

"We discussed it at length. That was the intended purpose. I would be concerned if it were used for anything else," he said.

Mr. Onorato said the remaining $22.6 million needed to get to the full reimbursement also would come from future payments from the slots fund, although he did not know what the schedule would be for that.

The county had long anticipated that it would recoup its investment in the midfield project from development on the land it owns surrounding the airport.

Airport Authority board Chairman Glenn Mahone said the gambling revenue provided the authority with a way to reimburse the county.

"We're paying an obligation that we've been struggling to find a way to pay since the airport authority was constituted," he said.

Even after the $42.5 million reimbursement, the Airport Authority still will receive more than $100 million over a 10-year span to reduce airport debt, Mr. Onorato said.

The authority has not budgeted any of the gambling revenue for 2008, Executive Director Bradley D. Penrod said. Now that it knows the money will be coming, "I think it will be good news for the carriers," he said.

County Councilman Charles McCullough said he still wants to see more details relating to the reimbursement, but added it "sounds like we're making some positive steps toward getting it addressed." He said it was "news to me" that Mr. Onorato said he had been considering this for some time.

As for whether the money should be used to cut costs to the airlines, he said, "Given that this issue has been outstanding for so long and given the need for the county to get its financial house in order, the county should have first dibs" at the money.

In addition to the $19.9 million, the county received another $2.5 million in gambling revenue from the state to help pay off bonds sold for a county economic development program in the mid-1990s.