It appears in recent years there has been some significant federal, state and local government money spent on regional airport terminal upgrades. Money that you and I have obviously given to the government in the form of taxes, rates etc.
True, your taxes pay for the terminal upgrades, however as increased traffic to regional centers comes with increased cash flow for the community it is seen as an investment.
Yet many of these terminals remain closed and locked except for a few brief periods when a RPT flight graces the airport. To my thinking this is a regressive trend and clearly detracts from promoting GA as a smart, viable and safe means of travel throughout this vast country.
As you said previously the government invested money in this infrastructure, to leave it unmanned is a sure way to have it vandalized, particularly considering the remote location of most regional airports. To keep it manned costs money. During RPT ops the terminal is staffed by both airport and airline staff reducing the risk of damage to the facilities. The cost of these staff is included in the airlines ticket (normally as an airport tax). To crew the terminal outside of hours would require someone to be paid to do it. As the number of movements per hour at most regional airports (requiring the use of the terminal) is minimal, the cost to cover it would be high per visit.
Country airports are there for use by all aviators and their passengers not just RPT ops.
True, and you can use the airport just the same as every other aircraft and airline.
I am moving to a mind set that will have me responding to their landing fee invoices with a polite "thanks for your invoice but I could not access your facilities"
You pay for the upkeep of the runways and taxiways, not on access to the other facilities.