City officials in Georgetown and San Marcos are scrambling to develop a plan to keep their air traffic control towers open.
The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that towers in Georgetown and San Marcos would not receive federal funding to continue operating. Local officials are considering options that include funding the towers on a limited schedule for a limited time, applying for federal and state funding, and cutting work hours for controllers.
Georgetown had appealed the tower closure, arguing the tower played an essential role in preserving the safety in army flights to and from Fort Hood, provided a training space for area flight schools and relieved traffic at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The federal government ordered the traffic control tower in Georgetown to close on April 6, city officials said.
San Marcos has not received a date for closure.
A dozen controllers in both cities will lose their jobs if cities cannot find alternative funding. Losing the control towers means pilots will have to coordinate their own landings, which critics say is more dangerous than guided maneuvers.
Ed Polasek, Georgetown Transportation Services director, said operating the tower there currently runs at about $620,000 a year, which the city would not be able to pay on its limited budget.
The Georgetown City Council will discuss options for the tower at its meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Council Chambers at 101 E. Seventh Street in Georgetown.
“If we can’t pay for it, closure is still an option,” Polasek said, adding that he will ask the council for more time to find options to finance the tower.
Other options include searching for a different company to run the tower at cheaper rates or operating it on limited hours with fewer employees, Polasek said.
Community service director Laurie Moyer oversees the airports in San Marcos and said the city is looking at, among other options, requesting funding from the Texas Department of Transportation Aviation Division, the state agency that allocates funds for airport improvements, and applying for federal funds.
“We’ve done a little bit of research and it doesn’t look like there’s a lot, but we’re going to keep on digging,” she said.
Moyer said she expects to bring forward options to the San Marcos City Council in the next few weeks.
She said the airport has seen increased traffic since it opened the tower in 2010 and closure could divert some planes to larger airports in Austin and San Antonio because of safety concerns.
The closures are part of the FAA’s effort to trim approximately $600 million from their 2013 budget under the across the board spending cuts known as sequestration. Thirteen air traffic control towers will close in Texas under the cuts.
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