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Hangar owners press city over franchise-fee classifications; administrator points to utility account types
Summary
Hangar owners at Air Lake told the advisory committee they are being inconsistently classified by utilities for franchise-fee rates; Lakeville city administrator Justin Miller said utilities assign account types and offered to contact customer-service representatives if owners provide bills.
Hangar owners told the Air Lake Airport advisory committee that franchise fees are being applied inconsistently to hangars, with some utilities treating similar properties as residential and others classifying them as commercial or industrial.
"It seems to be inconsistently applied," Pat Moynihan said, describing differences between a $6 gas franchise fee on one account and a $16 fee on a hangar electric account. Moynihan asked who determines the classifications and cited ordinance numbers read in the meeting transcript.
Justin Miller, Lakeville city administrator, responded that the city set the franchise-fee rate structure but does not assign utility account types. "The way franchise fees are assigned is based on how the utility companies... meter that property," Miller said, adding that account classification is determined by the utility company. He offered to contact utility customer‑service staff on behalf of owners if they provide addresses or copies of bills.
Committee members discussed organizing hangar owners to ask utilities for a new account category if necessary. The advisory committee agreed to place the issue on a future agenda for follow up and to attempt group outreach to the utility identified in the transcript as "Excel" (corrected to Xcel Energy in this report).
No ordinance change or formal vote was taken during the meeting.
