Another Delay on Hangar Fees

The Hawthorne City Council delayed action on hangar rental fees at its municipal airport Monday to give two council members time to discuss the fees with local pilots.

In August, the council voted to increase the hangar rental fee from $210 to $280 as part of a package of increases in municipal fees designed to reduce the city’s $2.5-million budget deficit.

However, members of the Hawthorne Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn. last month protested the increase, saying it violated a 1985 agreement between the city and the pilots group. The city had agreed to gradually increase the rental fee from $125 per month to $200 over a four-year period, then tie future increases to the Consumer Price Index. The four-year period ended in July, and the fee was automatically increased to $210, based on the index.

The council was scheduled to vote last month on a proposal to repeal the increase but delayed the vote to study hangar rental fees at other airports. The study, released this week, said hangar rental fees at seven municipal airports in Los Angeles County range from $235 at the Torrance Municipal Airport to $305 at the county-owned Whiteman Airport in the San Fernando Valley.

The council voted unanimously Monday to postpone action again to allow Councilmen Charles Bookhammer and David M. York time to meet with the pilots.

Bookhammer said he and York will return to the City Council next month to recommend a new fee for hangar rentals.