Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 22, 1990 TAG: 9007220082
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By JOEL TURNER MUNICIPAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Dollar Rent-A-Car should not be required to keep paying the fee if other companies can pick up customers at the airport without paying a fee, company president Carl Hart told the Regional Airport Commission last week.
Hart said he is losing business because off-airport companies do not have to pay an access fee and can charge lower rates.
Dollar Rent-A-Car, Hertz, Avis and National have counter space in the terminal and park their vehicles at the airport. They won the right to operate in the terminal because they submitted the highest bids.
Under their agreement with the airport, the four car-rental companies pay 10 percent of their gross receipts or a minimum guarantee, whichever is higher. They offered guarantees totaling almost $1.9 million to operate in the terminal.
years, Hart said.
When Dollar submitted its bid two years ago, Hart said, the commission was considering an 8 percent gross-receipts fee on off-airport rental agencies.
"I decided to agree to the 10 percent because I really wanted to be at the airport," Hart said, adding that he assumed he would have been required to pay an 8 percent fee if he had operated as an off-airport business.
But the commission has not imposed a gross-receipts fee on off-airport companies for several reasons, including pending legislation in Congress that would restrict its right to levy such a fee.
City Manager Robert Herbert, commission chairman, said airport officials understand Hart's request, but there are legal issues to be considered. The commission referred the request to its attorney for a review and report.
by CNB