MELFORT — A Melfort-based spray plane operator has approached council, asking for a reduction in the city’s fuel surcharge.
“The fuel fee at the airport is very high compared to other airports in the province. Fifteen cents a litre is more than anybody,” said Chad Vanderbyl of Fly’n Dutchman Ag, at the April 16 meeting of council. “There’s only one other airport that I know of that charges a fuel tax and that’s Yorkton. They’re only two cents a litre.”
He told council the Melfort airport has the 15 cents per litre surcharge, a $1,400 per plane charge and a $1,600 lot fee. Nipawin has no fuel surcharge, a $700 per plane charge and a $1,000 hangar fee, while Tisdale has no fuel surcharge, a $650 per plane charge and a $875 hangar fee. He also gave rates for other airports in Saskatchewan.
Vanderbyl said he’s hoping council will consider a flat fee to replace the fuel surcharge.
Coun. Doug Terry, who’s on the airport board, said a lot of those comparisons were like comparing apples and oranges, as most civic airports are located within their respective municipal boundaries, but Melfort’s airport is located in the RM of Flett’s Springs. That means the RM, not the city, receives taxes for any buildings at the airport. Nipawin is also in the same situation, though that town and RM have signed a memorandum of understanding about the issue.
“You can appreciate there’s an operating costs of that airport that the city bears,” Terry said. “The purpose of that surcharge is to try to recover some of that operating cost.”
With that said, Terry later added he can understand where Vanderbyl is coming from.
“It wasn’t put in place to be a barrier for you to do business,” he told him at council. “I appreciate, as a businessperson, that this is an extra cost to you but I wanted to explain to you that’s the reason behind the surcharge.”
Terry said the city will be looking closer at Vanderbyl’s request.
As for funding the operating costs of the airport while the RM receives the taxes, Terry said that’s not a unique issue to Melfort and that he knows that the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities have had discussions on it.
