Published: January 10, 2009 05:26 pm      

Fuel fees still on the table for Clark County Regional Airport

Costs may be introduced at meeting next month

The Clark County Aviation Board is again weighing a charge on fuel pumped by operators and pilots at the Clark County Regional Airport.

The fuel-flow fee — a long-debated means of increasing revenue at the insolvent facility — was brought back to life at a board meeting earlier this week.

Board members introduced the issue for public comment. About a half dozen got up to speak against it, said Dan Gregory, board member.

“It wasn’t a bad meeting,” Gregory said. “Basically they said, ‘Why can’t the county put up more money for the airport?’”

Gregory said the board will likely vote on a 10-cent-per-gallon charge at its meeting next month, which will be at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 12, at Hap’s Aerial Enterprises at the Sellersburg airstrip.

The airport’s funding has long been an issue.

The Clark County Council asked the board to give up its funding a few years ago, when it was needing money in order to build a new jail, explained Jack Vissing, the board’s attorney.

“That’s created a cash crisis,” he said.

Tenants at the airport didn’t like the idea of fuel-flow fees, pushing instead for landing fees, he said. Landing fees are assessed to operators who land there, but are not based at the airport.

The landing fees — which are based on the size of the aircraft — were instituted about six months ago, Gregory said.

Since then, they’ve only brought in $11,000, still leaving the airport with an approximately $40,000 to $50,000 budget shortfall.

“We’re paying our bills with what money we have in our savings,” Gregory said.

He believes that the fuel-flow fee would correct the shortfall. He also notes that the charge is in line with those being assessed at Louisville’s Bowman Field.

The idea has the support of some county officials.

Commissioner Mike Moore has long been a vocal proponent of the fees.

The county has spent thousands on studies of the issue and the consultants say the landing fees are a bad idea and the fuel-flow fees are the way to go, Moore said in an interview Friday.

He argues that 90 percent of flights leaving the Clark County Airport are pleasure flights.

“When you hear the hobbyist complain, that gets under my skin,” he said.

Commissioner Ed Meyer said he also supports the fees.

“I’m all for it,” he said. “They’ve been working hard to find ways to raise money.”

County Council President Dave Abbott said he was pleased to hear about the proposed fees.

“That’s what we’ve been pushing for years,” he said.