Hawthorne Postpones Vote on Hangar Fees to Review Issue

The Hawthorne City Council has delayed a vote to repeal increases in hangar fees at its municipal airport while it studies what improvements are needed there.

Airport officials want a number of improvements made. But Monday, council members heard from local pilots, some of whom said the improvements were not necessary. Pilot Bruce Traub, for example, said the extensive improvements sought by airport officials constitute a way for the city to justify its increase in monthly hangar rent.

Hangar fees at the airport, which had been raised in July to $210 a month, last month were raised again, to $280.

The council asked city officials to provide exact comparisons in hangar rents at surrounding airports. Council members complained that they have received different figures from the city and from the pilots and that some of the figures were estimates and not exact fee schedules.

The council voted for the increases in August, and in September airport officials sent a letter to City Manager Kenneth Jue listing needed hangar improvements, including roof repairs, upgrading of drainage, and additional electrical wiring and restrooms.

The 160-member Hawthorne Aircraft and Pilots Assn. has criticized the increase, maintaining that it violates an agreement the city made with the pilots in 1985 to raise fees gradually from $125 a month to $200 over a four-year period and then tie future increases to the consumer price index. The four-year period ended in July, and the index increased the fee to $210.

The increase in hangar rent was included in a package of other increases in municipal fees designed to reduce the city’s $2.5-million budget deficit.

The new municipal fees would raise $800,000 annually, with $50,000 coming from the new hangar rental fees, according to city officials.