City airport fees going up 4 percent this year

GLENWOOD SPRINGS ­— Fees to store planes at the Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport will be going up $20, or an average of 4 percent this year, under a plan approved by City Council at its Jan. 2 meeting.

The city’s Airport Board recommended the annual fee hike in an effort to remain competitive with other area airport rates, according to Geoff Guthrie, the city’s new transportation manager.

Fees for leasing hangar space and to tie down aircraft at the facility will each increase from $510 in 2013 to $530 this year. The annual user fee for planes stored on private property at the airport site will go from $450 to $460.

Monthly tie-down fees will remain the same for the coming year at $60, as will the $9 overnight tie-down fee. A $30 late fee for overdue payments will also stay the same.

Meanwhile, Airport Board chairman Jim Terry reported positive news on the budget front for the city’s airport enterprise fund. He told City Council that the airport was on pace to finish 2013 with a surplus of approximately $34,000.

That cushion could come in handy as airport operations were projected to fall about $36,000 short for the coming year, based on projections discussed during the 2014 city budget hearings.

Terry said the airport is still projecting fuel sales about the same as they were in 2012, although the final figure is not yet known.

Fuel sales account for about three-quarters of the airport’s annual revenues, and came in at about $102,000 in 2012. Expenses for this coming year, however, are projected to be $169,664, resulting in the projected shortfall.

The city is also waiting to hear from the Colorado Aviation Fund to find out if it will receive a $400,000 grant to replace the runway at the facility. The grant, if awarded, would require a 10 percent match on the city’s part.

Airport users indicated that they could likely raise the $40,000 needed to match the grant, without looking to the city’s general fund.