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Council approves amendment to city code section 5-41 to update airport fees and fuel flowage rates
Summary
The council approved changes to city code Section 5-41 to update landing fee rates and fuel flowage charges at the Tuscaloosa airport after a rent study of 66 comparable airports and Airport Advisory Committee recommendations.
The Tuscaloosa City Council voted to amend Section 5-41 of the city code to update airport landing fees and fuel flowage charges, following a rent study and recommendations from the Airport Advisory Committee.
City staff said they surveyed 66 comparable airports, received 49 responses and used benchmarking against peer airports and college towns. The amendment targets three revenue sources: landing fees (applied per 1,000 pounds of aircraft weight), fuel flowage fees (a per-gallon charge applied to fuel handled at the airport), and hangar/lease rates. No changes to special event fees were proposed.
On landing fees, staff said the city currently starts the per-1,000-pound landing fee calculation at 6,000 pounds and recommended a rate of $2.25 for the smaller aircraft group and $2.75 for larger aircraft where peers commonly use that rate. "In the analysis we looked at, we saw a different approaches in the landing fee," staff said, noting some airports start the threshold at 12,500 pounds while others start lower.
For fuel flowage, the staff recommendation keeps Avgas (for piston/reciprocating aircraft) at 6¢ per gallon due to price sensitivity for smaller-aircraft operators and raises the turbine/jet fuel flowage rate to 10¢ per gallon; staff said the current fuel flowage revenue is approximately $75,000–$85,000 and provided a projected figure of $52,000 associated with the proposed change (staff did not clarify whether that figure is additional revenue or a projected new total). Councilmembers asked whether the city itself sells fuel; staff clarified that fixed-base operators (FBOs) and third-party providers sell fuel at Tuscaloosa and the city charges flowage on gallons handled.
Council approved the amendment by voice vote. Staff said the changes followed Airport Advisory Committee recommendations and were informed by the benchmarking study; the updated fee schedule will be reflected in the city’s code and airport fee schedule going forward.
