Aloisi, Patrick fault way parking fees raised at Logan

Governor Deval Patrick's transportation secretary rebuked yesterday the top leadership of the state agency that operates Logan International Airport, calling for a rollback of a recently imposed $1 increase in parking fees that was adopted in a process that he said was "devoid of public input."

Transportation Secretary James A. Aloisi Jr. said in a letter that the Massachusetts Port Authority should look to cost-cutting measures before hitting airport users with higher fees. He criticized the agency for putting the fee hike into effect without any public notice.

But Aloisi's criticism may cause further confusion surrounding the Logan parking fees and the conflicting policies and procedures used to set them.

Aloisi is calling for the reversal of the $1 fee increase even as he and Patrick seek to impose a separate $2 "carbon fee" to be tacked on to Logan parking rates.

Moreover, Aloisi was partially responsible for the $1 increase that he is now criticizing. He was a member of the Massport board and voted in favor on Nov. 20 when it gave the agency's executive director, Thomas Kinton Jr., blanket authority to adjust parking rates "if market demand and price tolerance dictates," board minutes show.

Aloisi said in his letter yesterday to Massport board chairman John A. Quelch and Kinton that, despite his vote, he never expected Massport officials to impose a rate increase without public input. Kinton put the increase into effect in January.

"As a member of the Massport board, I voted to delegate to Massport staff the responsibility of raising or lowering parking fees, but that process should never have happened in a vacuum devoid of public input," Aloisi wrote. "Governmental action that has a direct impact on our citizens must be fully vetted and coordinated in a complete and transparent manner."

The carbon surcharge that Aloisi is proposing with the governor would have to be approved by the Legislature.

Aloisi was not available for an interview last evening, his spokesman said.

Massport appeared to be caught unawares by Aloisi's salvo.

Danny Levy, a spokeswoman for Massport, said the agency had not received the letter by the close of business yesterday and declined to comment further.

In the letter, Aloisi said that if Massport insists on continuing with the fee increase, it must provide him with a "comprehensive justification." Aloisi said he was writing "at the direction of Governor Patrick."

Logan had the highest parking fees among major US airports surveyed recently by the Globe.

"We need to know if there are additional cost savings and efficiencies that can be instituted by Massport to save money and avoid the $1 increase," Aloisi wrote in his letter.

Aloisi, who became transportation secretary in January, seems determined to shake up the state's transportation bureaucracy.

Referring to his own plan to impose a $2 carbon fee on Logan parking, Aloisi was quoted in the Globe yesterday saying that he anticipated Massport opposition "because people don't like their cozy little worlds disturbed."

Aloisi said his proposed $2 fee increase was meant to discourage air travelers from driving to the airport and to encourage use of public transportation.

He said he wants the parking fee to fund improvements to airport-related transit projects, including a proposal to build a new tunnel under South Boston to speed up the Logan-bound Silver Line bus service. The fee increase would require the Legislature's approval.

By contrast, Massport's $1 fee increase was intended to raise an estimated $1 million a year in parking revenue to fund the agency's costs, including a recently signed contract with one of its unions giving workers a 7.5 percent increase over two years.

Massport has not trimmed its staffing, keeping its full complement of 75 garage attendants and cashiers, even as parking revenue has fallen off by $4.2 million in the last eight months.

Aloisi took special aim at the way Massport implemented the parking fee increase.

The new parking rates became public Feb. 23, when the Globe cited an internal memo it had obtained to report the increases.

Massport had failed to give any notice of the increase, in contrast to a 2007 rate increase it imposed at the airport and in contrast to the MBTA's 2008 increase of fees at its parking garages.

Sean Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com.