Alejandro Sánchez, the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, the financially troubled town on the Spanish side of the border, has been kicking up a fuss

At Border Town in Spain, a Toll Imperils Rapprochement - NYTimes.com: "Alejandro Sánchez, the mayor of La Línea de la Concepción, the financially troubled town on the Spanish side of the border, has been kicking up a fuss on several fronts.

He is not happy with the airport deal because he says La Línea has not been paid by the Spanish government for the land required to build Spanish access to the airport terminal.

And in pursuit of even more cash, he is threatening to charge a toll in La Línea, looking for revenue from the owners of the 10 million vehicles that cross through his town each year, mostly with people going to shop in the dense streets of Gibraltar.

Mr. Sánchez says the income would begin to make up for the environmental impact of all that car exhaust — and for the ugliness of the long lines of vehicles waiting to get into Gibraltar, where shoppers can get deals on cigarettes, alcohol, perfume and chocolates.

“We have the most polluted village in all of Andalusia,” said Mr. Sánchez. “The shoreline is lost for tourism because of all those cars going into Gibraltar. They are always backed up on our side. The waterline is gone because there is a huge clogged road there. So we are developing a congestion charge."

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