An official with the Iowa Public Airports Association says they’re not just being cut, they’re being axed. Airports Association Secretary Mike Salamone says the republican budget-cutting plan laid out this week takes every penny of funding away. In the past, airports have gotten about two and-a-half million a year from the general fund, and earlier lawmakers already cut two million, just about 80-percent. But Salamone says it’s gone too far in the latest proposal. He says they’re not only taking away the last half-million, but eliminating the programs. Salamone says the airports association had already aimed the little remaining funding at basic safety needs. He cites the Automated Weather System the state funding maintains, which lets pilots phone for weather conditions at airports they plan to fly to. Salamone says the 500-thousand remaining in the LAST state budget was also going to a handful of badly needed airport safety projects not funded any other way. The federal government’s sending Iowa eight million dollars for other airport and terminal projects, but Salamone says that can’t be transferred to the projects being cut.
