Vermont City Trying to Get Tax Assessment on Its Airspace to Fly

Money doesn’t grow on trees, but officials here think it should come out of the sky--they want to tax their airspace.

Winooski is sending a tax bill to the Burlington International Airport in South Burlington, which is owned by the city of Burlington, arguing that planes approaching and leaving the airport take up the city’s airspace.

The airspace was assessed at $3,563,300, resulting in a tax bill of $90,222, City Manager Brendan Keleher said.

“We feel that the airport has a presence here in Winooski and its effects are positive and negative,” Keleher said. “And we feel that presence is felt in the airspace. . . . The airport takes up space in Winooski with the airspace.”

“I think it’s ludicrous,” said M. Robert Blanchard, chairman of the Airport Commission. “I don’t think they can do this. . . . Federal regulations prevent them from taxing airspace. . . . I’m sure they’ll have to take us to court.

“If Winooski gets their rights, then they (the airport) will have to pay for every other city and town in Vermont that the planes fly over,” Blanchard said.

‘Measurable Surfaces’

Glide paths and approach ways are “measurable surfaces that can be viewed as necessary extensions of the airport itself, since, without such space, the airport would not be operable,” a memo compiled by Winooski officials said.

South Burlington already taxes the airport for more than $200,000, city tax assessor Richard Underwood said. The property for 1986-87 was assessed at $8,972,625.