Hangar hangups

Following a tense exchange of words between David and Tasha Worthington and council member Richard Raymer during the Aug. 7 Saratoga Town Council meeting, it was expected that the ongoing issues of hangar leases would top discussions at the Saratoga Airport Board on Aug. 8.

When the board met at 1 p.m. at the Saratoga Town Hall the next day, however, discussion of the hangar leases and definitions was limited—with the only mention of the leases being about correspondence received from hangar owner Andy van Tol. The continued frustration over the lease agreements and language used in the documents led to a group of hangar owners and fixed base operator (FBO) Bob Maddox agreeing to meet outside of the airport board meetings to reach an understanding.

“About eight months ago, our meetings were getting plugged up with talks of the lease and so Bob, the current FBO, and some of the hangar owners decided that maybe some of the issues that they had with that lease could be handled outside of the airport board meeting at which time, then, those suggestions could be brought back to the board so that we didn’t have a two hour meeting in the middle of the day, taking up everybody’s time,” said Raymer during the Aug. 7 town council meeting.

Since then, however, minimal updates had been provided. During last month’s meeting of the airport board, it was decided unless some form of correspondence was received by the board it would take the task of lease agreement definitions back into their own hands.

After confirming the receipt of van Tol’s letter, the board made the decision to address the letter during the meeting in September.

“I propose that what we do is take the time to read it and study it and then respond, because there’s a lot of information in there and we’ve just received this, so I don’t think we want to discuss this without at least having time to go through it. I would propose that we read it and then discuss it on email with our points and then be prepared to respond by next meeting,” said board member Ellie Dana.

The topic of landing fees was also revisited after board member Arlen Hughes spoke with representatives of Ralph Wenz Field, the municipal airport in Pinedale.

“They said that it has really added to help with the expenses on the airport and they’ve only had one jet guy that kind of complained about landing fees out of all the air traffic that Pinedale has,” said Hughes.

Ralph Wenz Field charges both landing fees and overnight fees for any jet and any turboprop planes that land in Pinedale. Jets are charged $75 for a landing fee and $40 for each night while turboprops are charged $50 for a landing fee and $40 for each night. Twin engines and single props are not charged landing or overnight fees and neither are hangar owners or airplanes based at the airport.

According to Hughes, the municipal airport in Pinedale was able to raise an additional $15,000 in 2017 with the implementation of the landing fees. Hughes suggested that the board consider following Pinedale’s example with the landing fees. The board further discussed, along with Maddox and hangar owner’s in attendance, how to not only implement but collect the landing fees.

Dana requested Maddox speak with other FBOs and report back to the board at the next meeting.

The next regularly scheduled meeting of the Saratoga Airport Board will be at 1 p.m. on Sept. 12 at the Saratoga Town Hall.