Christmas came early for Colorado’s airports as state officials said Wednesday they have identified an extra $26.7 million in aviation fuel sales-tax receipts collected since 2004 that should be reimbursed to airports.
An internal audit at the Colorado Department of Revenue found fuel-tax collections totaling $22.8 million for 2004 through 2007 and another $3.9 million in the current fiscal year, which began July 1.
Instead of being segregated as aviation fuel taxes, the Revenue Department booked the money as general sales taxes.
State aviation fuel-tax proceeds should be remitted to Colorado airports in amounts equal to 65 percent of the fuel-tax revenue collected at each airport, said state aeronautics director Travis Vallin.
The remaining 35 percent goes into a separate aeronautics account for discretionary spending on small airports.
Denver International Airport produces about 80 percent of all aviation fuel-tax revenues generated statewide.
Revenue Department spokesman Mark Couch said those paying the aviation fuel tax are required to provide two types of information, including a sales-tax report that is not limited to the fuel tax.
A second document related specifically to the aviation fuel tax was not being filed properly, so the money was not placed in a separate account, he said.
“We need to work on improving the process so we get the proper documents all at the same time,” Couch said.
DIA officials thought something was amiss when the airport’s state fuel-tax reimbursement declined last year, to $6.2 million, from $9.7 million in 2005, said Stan Koniz, DIA’s deputy manager for business and technologies.
The state aviation tax is 2.9 percent of the price of fuel, and with DIA handling more flights in a period where fuel prices were trending up, it did not make sense that tax receipts would drop, Koniz said.
DIA got $5.4 million in state aviation fuel-tax proceeds in 2003 and $7.4 million in 2004, according to airport records.
DIA recently agreed to use state aviation fuel-tax proceeds to pay operations and maintenance costs of its new snow-removal plan from 2007 through 2009.
Airlines now will get a “windfall” from the additional fuel-tax money found by the Revenue Department, Koniz said.
The exact amount DIA will get from the 2004-07 collections is not yet known, but discovery of the money “is very good news,” Koniz said.
Jeffrey Leib: 303-954-1645 or jleib@denverpost.com
