The Georgetown Municipal Airport is one of more than 100 airports throughout the nation that could lose funding if the federal budget cuts—known as the sequester—are not resolved.

The money the airport receives from the Federal Aviation Administration funds staff in the air traffic control tower, a necessity for an airport that averages 186 operations—takeoffs and landings—per day, according to airport staff.

Keith Hutchinson, communications manager for the City of Georgetown, said the airport is "totally dependent on the FAA for our control tower."

Before the air traffic control tower opened in 2007, the airspace was uncontrolled, he said. The airport saw at least one midair collision during that time; one pilot was severely injured, but both made full recoveries.

"Given what operations are there daily, we would certainly hate to think of it going back to that," Hutchinson said.

Activity is highest on Saturdays, he said, with more than 400 operations. Budget cuts would suspend that activity until an alternate source of funds could be found.

"We don't have any other dedicated revenue and neither does the state," Hutchinson said.

Four controllers staff the tower daily from 7 a.m.–10 p.m. If federal lawmakers cannot resolve the sequester, the air traffic control tower would close "no sooner than April 1," Hutchinson said.

"We hope that something can be resolved on a federal level so that we don't have to face that problem," he said. "We're consulting [with other airport managers] to see what other options may be out there—to see what other Plan B [or] Plan C we could put into place. Our No. 1 hope is that the funding crisis can be resolved."

Details on the FAA control tower closure list are available at www.faa.gov (PDF).