Port Adds $1 to Daily Car Rentals at Airport

By David Patch, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio

Apr. 25–A daily fee the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority collects on car rentals at Toledo Express Airport will rise to $3 within two months to pay for a vehicle maintenance facility the authority plans to build.

After the port authority Board of Directors’ vote yesterday to raise the airport’s $2 “customer facility charge” by $1, agency spokesman Carla Firestone said it will take effect either June 1 or July 1, depending on how quickly rental agencies can update information in their reservation computers.

But award of construction contracts for the maintenance facility, also on the directors’ agenda, was tabled until next month.

The postponement will allow port staff to reconsider how the project will be financed, Ms. Firestone said.

Since 2002, car renters have paid a daily surcharge, the revenue of which goes toward projects benefiting the rental agencies at Toledo Express.

The initial $1-a-day charge paid for a new rental-car parking lot and covered walkway leading to the airport’s passenger terminal.

The pending project involves building a common maintenance facility where all rental companies will clean and repair their vehicles.

Port authority staff advanced the idea as an alternative to each rental company replacing its maintenance facilities, which are spread out around the airport.

Having a common facility will reduce the rental firms’ overhead, making the airport a more attractive place for them to operate, Ms. Firestone said.

Many other airports levy similar fees, she said, usually from $2 to $4 per rental day.

Ideally, Ms. Firestone said, the lower overhead “trickles down” to customers in the form of lower base rental-car rates.

But the port authority has no proof that actually occurs, she conceded.

“We’re doing whatever we can to get better rates,” she said.

While air travelers visiting Toledo account for many rentals, the airport is the only Toledo-area outlet for several of the firms there.

The port board in 2006 approved extending the surcharge to pay for the maintenance facility. Last year, it authorized its increase from $1 to $2 per day.

Port authority officials planned to borrow $3 million from Ohio’s State Infrastructure Bank, which provides low-interest loans to municipalities and other political entities for capital projects.

But because contractor bids for the maintenance facility came in lower than projected, port staff want to take a second look at the financing plan before locking in the state loan, Ms. Firestone said.

The delay will not affect the bidding outcome.

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