Opinion ID: 294587
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Fee for Access to the Airport

Text: 13 No one contests that the Board is entitled to a reasonable fee for the use of the facilities provided at the Airport. The issue is to determine what is a reasonable fee, and how that fee may be computed. The basic contention of Coast, the cross-appellant on this point, is that a fee based on a percentage of gross receipts is per se prohibited as an unconstitutional burden on interstate commerce. Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company v. Texas, 1908, 210 U.S. 217, 28 S.Ct. 638, 52 L.Ed. 1031; Philadelphia & Southern Mail Steamship Company v. Pennsylvania, 1886, 122 U.S. 326, 7 S.Ct. 1118, 30 L. Ed. 1200. We believe those cases are not relevant. Both cases dealt with efforts by the states to tax gross receipts of companies engaged in interstate commerce. But in the instant case the charge levied is not a tax in the traditional sense. It is rather compensation for use of the Airport facilities. And charges levied by state authority to defray the cost of regulation or of facilities afforded in aid of interstate or foreign commerce have consistently been held to be permissible. Clyde Mallory Lines v. Alabama ex rel. State Docks Comm., 1935, 296 U.S. 261, 267, 56 S.Ct. 194, 197, 80 L.Ed. 215, 219. See also, Packet Company v. Keokuk, 1877, 95 U. S. 80, 24 L.Ed. 377; Transportation Company v. Parkersburg, 1882, 107 U.S. 691, 2 S.Ct. 732, 27 L.Ed. 584; Morgan's Steamship Company v. Louisiana Board of Health, 1886, 118 U.S. 455, 6 S.Ct. 1114, 30 L.Ed. 237; Ouachita Packet Co. v. Aiken, 1887, 121 U.S. 444, 7 S.Ct. 907, 30 L.Ed. 976. 14 The district court heard evidence tending to establish the fact that 10% of the gross receipts is a commonly-accepted charge throughout the nation for use of Airport facilities. As earlier noted, 10% of gross receipts is the charge which is levied upon Toye. The Board has explained that nearby motels who are not common carriers but have courtesy cars, and the local transit system which transports many of the Airport employees, are charged a relatively small flat dollar fee for access to the facilities at the Airport. The Board convincingly contends that rational grounds are present upon which to distinguish between a fair charge to those providing common carrier limousine and bus service, and these latter-mentioned transport services. We are convinced that the Board is correct. 15 In summation, we affirm the district court's finding that a fee of 10% of gross receipts in payment for access to the Airport was a reasonable levy and did not constitute an objectional burden on interstate commerce. This holding is dispositive of both cross-appeals taken by Coast, the first from the June 26, 1969, order, and the second from the district court's judgment of December 23, 1969. 16 Affirmed.