The agreement, which was signed during the previous board’s tenure, would have imposed fees on passengers going to Tinian Dynasty, but it was never implemented.
“Both parties failed to sit down and negotiate for that agreement which required certain fees to be implemented,” CPA Executive Director Efrain Camacho told Variety.
CPA reviewed the records and found that the “figures tossed out were unrealistic,” he said.
“It’s really a number that can be contested,” he added. “It’s like somebody just pulled out the figure from the air…and rather than spend energy on what happened several years ago and with the present state of our economy, we decided to waive [the fees].”
Camacho was optimistic that the board’s positive action will help Tinian Dynasty and the island’s economy.
“CPA is trying to extend help to everyone to generate economic activity,” he said. “We cannot penalize people left and right…so CPA wants to waive fees and carefully look at the gains of doing so.”
Based on the previous projection of about 600 passengers for Tinian Dynasty Hotel & Casino, the agreement with Taga Air could mean approximately $125,000 in passenger fee collections for CPA.
But, Camacho added, Tinian Dynasty never collected the fees.
Dynasty is an affiliate of Taga Air.
Camacho said CPA is trying to strike a balance between its concerns and those of businesses that deal with the agency.
CPA, he added, wants to encourage more people to visit Tinian.
“CPA believes that one way to help the economy on Tinian is to try to keep Dynasty competitive,” he said.
