The Metropolitan Airports Commission voted 10-3 Monday to double the fee that four off-site parking companies pay each time they bring a shuttle bus onto airport property to pick up customers, despite the companies' assertions that it might drive them out of business.Commissioners said the increase was overdue and needed for the firms to pay their fair share of $3 billion in improvements at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
The fee for buses picking up customers for off-site parking will rise from $2.55 to $5.10 by November 2011. According to an analysis by commission staff, the cost to a customer using the off-site parking would increase by about 50 cents a day, to 98 cents.
Harold Strassener, president of Team Parking, said he paid the airports commission $109,000 in pick-up fees last year, leaving him with $80,000 in profits. Doubling the fee, he said "will put me out of business."
Liz Nordstrom, president of EZ Air Park, said it could "potentially" force her company to shut down. "We are not opposed to paying reasonable fees," she said.
However, Paul Rehkamp, an airports commissioner, asked whether there may be too many airport parking companies, suggesting that in business there is a "natural selection" process.
Ramp parking at the main terminal costs $18 a day with a credit card or $20 per day in cash, while off-site parking companies charge about $11 per day, with off-site covered parking running $13, although in winter it can cost $15, commission staff said.
The off-site firms likened the rate hike to a competitor using its ability to tax to drive away the competition.
Jim Spensley, president of the South Metro Airport Action Council, accused the commission of "gouging" local consumers.
The commission earlier had offered to charge the off-site companies a percentage of their revenue, but Strassener said the companies rejected the idea because of the vagaries of taxes and gas costs. lnstead, the companies proposed that fees be raised from $2.55 to $2.75, with a 3 percent increase per year over 10 years, but airport staff rejected the idea.
Steve Wareham, the airport's director of operations, calculated that the companies' proposal would net the airport $3,197,687 over six years, while the commission's plan would yield $5,134,846.
Commissioners voting to raise the fee were the chairman, Jack Lanners, and Mike Landy, Bert McKasy, Daniel Boivin, John McClung, Donald Monaco, Lisa Peilen, Molly Sigel, John Williams and Rehkamp. Voting against were Robert Nelson, Andy Westerberg and Pat Harris.
Randy Furst • 612-673-7382
