Rental car agencies at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport Authority in South Dakota would face an airport concession fee increase but would be allowed to charge a new fee to customers, under an agreement in the works between the authority and the rental car companies, according to the Argus Leader.

The fee is meant to improve parking at the airport. The airport authority on Sept. 16 approved a notice to bidders for a new rental car concessions agreement. The agreement with the airport's four rental car agencies will be up at the end of the year.

The four-year lease will include an increase in the concessions fee from 10 percent to 10.5 percent. The concession fee revenue is used for operations and maintenance of the terminal. If implemented, the charge probably would start at $2 a day for rental car customers, Letellier said.

Dan Letellier, airport executive director, said the fee increase is in line with that of other cities.

Because the airport has only four stalls for rental car companies to lease, the authority must put the contract out for bids to give other interested companies a chance to lease a spot, Letellier said. As part of the bid, the rental companies must guarantee that they'll pay at least $150,000 a year to the airport. If their 10.5 percent concessions fee doesn't meet that goal, they must make up the difference.

The new agreement also will allow for the creation of a customer facility charge to be collected in the future. Such a charge could help pay for rental car-related facilities such as a new car-washing building. It also could help pay for a portion of a new parking structure that is planned in coming years at the airport to house the rental cars as well as create more public parking spaces, Letellier said.

The airport authority will pick the four best offers at the end of October.

One Sioux Falls rental car manager said the customer facility charge is a positive development because it could be used to provide a covered parking lot for customers in the winter.