LAX Parking Fees to Increase Again : Finances: Action follows imposition of a 10% tax on spaces citywide. Charges will rise an even $1 so lot attendants don’t have to make change.

The price of parking at Los Angeles International Airport will rise this weekend, the second large increase in nine months.

Airport officials said Tuesday they had no choice but to raise parking rates after the Los Angeles City Council imposed a 10% citywide parking tax to combat city budget woes.

Fearing that simply adding the tax to current parking charges would force attendants to make change and lead to longer delays at exit booths, officials decided to use the opportunity to raise rates even further.

Beginning Saturday, it will cost an additional $1 a day to park at garages in the central terminal area and at remote lots. Charges for the first hour of parking opposite the terminals will also increase by $1.

Donald Miller, deputy executive director of the Department of Airports, said “it would be a disaster” if the airport had tacked on the 10% parking tax to a motorist’s bill and attendants had to make change for odd amounts. “We wanted to avoid it at all cost.”

The result--the $1 increase--is expected to add $1.3 million to the airport beyond the $5.4 million in parking taxes that will go to the city’s treasury. “We tried to set the rates so the impact would be zero, but there was just no way to do it,” Miller said.

Altogether, the approximately 25,000 parking spaces at LAX are expected to raise just under $59 million annually beginning Sept. 1.

Rates in the central terminal area will rise from $15 to $16 a day.

The steepest increase will be for those who park for an hour or less. The current rate is $2 for the first hour and $1 per hour after that, up to the daily $15 maximum. The new minimum charge will be $3, which covers the first two hours of parking, and $1 an hour after that, up to the new maximum of $16 per day.

Parking meters in the terminal area will remain 25 cents for 15 minutes.

The daily charge in remote Lot B, at 111th Street between Aviation and La Cienega boulevards, will rise to $5. In remote Lot C, at 96th Street and Sepulveda Boulevard, the daily rate--which was $4 before last December’s increase--will rise to $7. Parking will continue to be free for the first two hours at remote lots.

The chief beneficiaries of the previous increase in parking revenues were the airlines that serve the airport. Through a complex agreement that has existed since the late 1940s, every time airport revenues exceed expenses and debt service by a set amount, landing fees drop.

As a result, the airport’s raising of both short-term and long-term parking rates last December, the first such increases in seven years, meant a $12-million savings for the airlines this year.

“Essentially, all things being equal, every $1 of increased revenue lowers the landing fees by a corresponding $1,” Miller said.

Because of higher expenses and a recent decision to eliminate rental charges for luggage carts, this weekend’s increase in parking rates in not likely to mean a further reduction in landing fees, Miller said.

LAX PARKING RATE INCREASES

The second parking rate hike in nine months takes effect Saturday at Los Angeles International Airport. The figures reflect a 10% parking tax imposed because of city budget problems.

PARKING AREA OLD RATE NEW RATE INCREASE *Central Terminal Area $15 per day $16 per day 6.6% $2 minimum $3 minimum -- (covers 1st hour) (covers 2 hours) *Remote Lot B (111th St. between Aviation and $4 per day $5 per day 25% La Cienega Blvds.) *Remote Lot C (96th St. and $6 per day $7 per day 16.6% Sepulveda Blvd.)

Source: Los Angeles Department of Airports