Parking fees in the unsecured area at Dubbo City Regional Airport seem unlikely to go ahead.
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At Dubbo Regional Council’s planning and development committee meeting on Monday night, administrator Michael Kneipp voted in support of a recommendation for the fees not to be introduced.
In March last year, council floated the idea of introducing a $4.70 per day fee for the unsecured car park at Dubbo airport, with the plan for it to be introduced in 2017/18.
However, during the exhibition period for the parking fee plan 64.5 per cent of submissions were opposed to the proposal.
Opposition to the fees included the extra cost it would impose on those travelling for medical treatment and the comparison to similar regional centres that had no cost.
Council director corporate development Ken Rogers said when the fees were initially considered council was looking for additional income to cover the costs of a capital works program.
Since then, council had been fortunate enough to secure more than $16 million in grants, Mr Rogers said, alleviating the pressure for council to find the money in the budget.
Council has received a $9 million grant to strengthen the main runway, as well as $6.6 million for the expansion of the general aviation precinct.
“Public opinion was definitely against it, we don’t really need it because we have that grant money to do the major works and it’s just good customer service at this stage not to introduce it,” Mr Rogers said.
Mr Rogers has also recommended the landing fees for Dubbo City Regional Airport to be maintained at the current rate for the 2017/18 financial year.
Based on the growth in passenger numbers the director corporate development said the airport was already more than $266,000 over the original budget for landing fees, giving council the opportunity to maintain the current level of fees without any significant impact on airport income.
The proposal will go before the February Meeting of Council on Monday.