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AC 150/5300-4B 5 6/24/7 v assign responsibility for policy and administrative direction to a designated official of the public agency. Routine day-to-day supervision of airport operations may be delegated to one of the tenanted proprietary activities doing business at the airport. How- ever, exercise extreme care to distinguish between the functions performed by the tenant in his capacity as an agent of the airport owner and those in the conduct of his own business. Failure to make this distinction is the cause of many problems in the adminis- tration of smaller airports. In considering any such arrangements, make the responsibility for day-to-day maintenance and the enforce- ment of local airport regulations the subject of a separate contract for a separate monetary consideration and completely divorce it from any lease or rental arrangement by which the tenant obtains the use of airport premises and operating privileges for his business. e. In some instances, a community may find itself handicapped by limi- tations in its municipal charter insofar as efficient business man- agement of a public airport is concerned. For example, the charter may require placing all revenues and expenditures into the general funds making it impossible to clearly identify the cumulative record of airport transactions; or the charter may not permit or recognize such items as depreciation or accrued charges, etc.; or the organizational structure of the community may impose salary limitations on the hiring of a competent professional airport manager. For these and other reasons, many communities have found it advantageous to establish an autonomous airport "Authority" fully empowered to administer the airport with a separate fund, to hire its own employees, and to contract with business enterprises to provide the needed proprietary services. 69. WILL THE AIRPORT SHOW A PROFIT? a. There is no reason why a publicly owned utility airport cannot ultimately be self-supporting. Like any other enterprise, a new airport may take several years to develop the level of activity necessary to meet expenses. As pointed out in Chapter 1, however, the direct dollar return is not a true measure of the value of the airport to the community. b. A public agency operating a public airport is entitled to seek some recovery of expense incurred in providing the basic public facili- ties such as the landing area, taxiways, parking areas, terminal building, etc. At larger airports it is fairly common practice to impose a direct "toll" or landing fee for use of the landing area, particularly by scheduled air carriers. At most utility airports, however, the administration and collection of such a direct user charge is not practical. Recovery of some part of the Page 80 Chap 13 Par 68 •