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Committee backs 2026 fee schedule changes, including $1,000 crop‑duster operator fee
Summary
The Finance and Taxation Committee voted to recommend updates to the 2026 fee schedule — approving an airport-board request to raise the crop‑duster/chemical-use operator license fee to $1,000, aligning monthly parking stall rental from $8 to $12, and deleting the now‑obsolete golf‑cart permit fee — and sent the package to the Common Council.
The City of Monroe Finance and Taxation Committee voted to forward recommended amendments to the 2026 fee schedule to the Common Council, including a proposed increase in an airport operator license and changes to monthly parking charges.
Administrator Rindy told the committee the airport board requested raising the crop‑dusting or other commercial chemical‑use operator license that had historically been $50 (or $100 when multiple categories applied) to $1,000 annually to better match fees charged at peer airports and to address repeated nuisance and damage where operators brought chemicals to transfer but did not purchase fuel or otherwise contribute to airport revenue.
The change to monthly parking stall rental was described as an alignment with previously increased annual parking‑lot rates: Rindy said staff recommends raising the monthly rate from $8 to $12 so monthly charges do not cumulatively exceed the annual rate. She also recommended deleting the golf‑cart/low‑speed vehicle permit fee because the ordinance authorizing that permit no longer exists, and payments would therefore be inconsistent with current code.
Tom Miller, president of the airport board, said the board has seen operators transfer chemicals on site without fueling and pointed to at least one instance of a spill that killed turf near the terminal. "We have had issues with planes coming in and not buying any fuel from us," Miller said, adding that other airports charge in the range of several hundred to about $1,000 for similar uses.
Committee members asked safety and regulatory questions about whether chemicals are labeled, whether they are stored overnight in hangars, and whether state or federal environmental authorities should be notified for spills; Rindy and Miller said contractors typically bring chemicals in trailers or tanker trucks for on‑site transfers and that significant spills would prompt outside response, while smaller incidents were handled locally.
A committee member moved to approve the fee schedule changes, including deletion of the golf‑cart permit; the motion was seconded and the clerk recorded unanimous aye votes from the Alders listed by the clerk. The package will be presented to the Common Council for final action.
The committee’s recommendation sends the proposed fee changes to the council; next steps are council consideration and any formal adoption or further amendment there.
