WATERLOO -- The president of the city's firefighter union is decrying a budget proposal to remove professional firefighters from the Waterloo Regional Airport and replace them with airport maintenance staff.

"The Cedar Valley needs to know there's not going to be full-time firefighters at the airport … ," said Dave Floyd, a firefighter and president of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 66.

He added that includes businesses and the University of Northern Iowa, which use the facility.

Floyd said "we all understand" city officials have a budget they must meet.

"I just believe there's other places they can cut other than the core city services," he said.

But Mayor Tim Hurley defended the move.

"We've come to a point where this is a prudent balance between safety and economics," Hurley said.

He added he has no concerns about the airport meeting Federal Aviation Administration guidelines.

Waterloo Fire Rescue staffs a truck at the airport with three firefighters who take turns manning the station. The proposed budget would move those firefighters to vacancies in regular stations around the city and have an airport maintenance person operate the truck if needed.

Even after hiring an additional airport maintenance employee and providing proper training, the city would save slightly more than $200,000 next year with the move.

Fire Chief Ned DeBerg raised concerns about the idea.

"It will be a problem if something happens out there," he said. "The decision to cut professional firefighters will come under question by the FAA. It's a risk we're taking."

Floyd, noting he respects the competency of airport maintenance staff members, questioned whether they could meet the FAA requirement to get the truck to the middle of the farthest runway within three minutes.

"From my experience of being there, if you're away from the truck on a mower in the middle of the airport and something happens, you're not going to make it in three minutes," Floyd said.

Hurley said maintenance mechanics know when the airport's four daily commercial flights arrive. The mayor said the truck -- which sprays a fire retardant to allow passengers to escape until a full fire crew arrives -- could be driven by maintenance people to their work sites around the airport for a quicker response.

Only one incident -- involving a private aircraft -- has required the truck in five years, Hurley said. And during that time the city spent $1 million on firefighters.

Hurley said many airports of similar size do not use professional firefighters on site, including Mason City and Fort Dodge.

"I'd rather not be in that group. I'd rather be a very successful Cedar Rapids-type of airport, and we're working for that," he said. "But we only have four commercial flights a day."

Contact Tim Jamison at (319) 291-1577 or at tim.jamison@wcfcourier.com.