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Revising the 30-year-old agreement has been an unprecedented 18 months of give and take, officials said.
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Pilot Bill Blank looks over the wing of his Super Decathalon plane in it's hanger at the La Crosse Municipal Airport.
Erik Daily |
A year ago, pilots balked at rent increases for their private t-hangar space.
The most recent clash is over insurance clauses releasing the city from any liability for damages and requiring additional premises coverage.
“Our intent is to protect the city’s assets,” said Airport Manager Dan Wruck.
Pilots with older aircraft may carry only liability but not hull — similar to collision — insurance. They expect the additional coverage would cost more than $1,000 a year.
If approved by the Common Council, the lease would require the policy-holder’s insurer waive its subrogation rights against the city. Subrogation allows an insurance company to go after the guilty party to recover its costs.
“They’re asking for something that just isn’t available from the largest aviation insurers in the country, including one that probably does 40 percent of privately owned airplanes,” said council member Jim Bloedorn, who shares a plane and hangar lease with friends.
The pilots doubt their insurance agencies and underwriters will waive that right.
“When you start talking about taking subrogation rights away from a company, they’re not going to walk away, they’re going to run,” said pilot Bob Cummings.
And if it is available, tenants are concerned policy holders will get whacked with prohibitive insurance premiums.
Insurance companies won’t just eat those costs, said Bob Dean, who has parked his single-engine, five-seat plane at the La Crosse airport for eight years.
“If it’s not coming out of the guilty party’s pocket, it’s going to come out of the purchaser’s pocket,” Dean said.
If there was a drastic change in the terms of the lease agreement, Dean said he likely would sell the plane than move it to another airport.
They already pay more than $2,500 a year for what Dean considers “premium” insurance coverage.
Other t-hangar tenants said they’d go shopping for new hangar space at surrounding airports.
“It’s gotten to the point that I checked on hangar availability,” said Dr. Bill Blank. “There’s a limit to how much aggravation I want to put up with.”
The city attorney’s office contends the language in the draft lease isn’t unique.
City Attorney Stephen Mattey said when he reviewed this provision more than a year ago, he found other agreements with the city that included subrogation waivers.
“What’s being asked is not onerous in any way, shape or form,” Mattey said. “It’s kind of a surprise that it’s brought up now, in the 11th hour, but we’ll certainly look at it.”
Wruck said he’s asked a private insurer to conduct a complete lease review.
“We can remove the sentence. The question is, is it in the best interest of the city to do so?” Mattey said. “The city’s going to be reasonable here. We’re not going to be demanding things that are unreasonable.”
Samantha Marcus can be reached at (608) 791-8220 or smarcus@lacrossetribune.com.
