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ever since Reagan fired everybody in the '80s. But the private companies contract with the FAA, which actually pays for the work, though the airport authority pays for the tower itself and the equipment. The controllers are paid less than directly-paid FAA controllers, but they also handle less traffic. When I worked part-time as a flight instructor, my flight school was based at an airport with an FAA tower, and the controllers were always worried that if traffic fell below a certain level ("operations," meaning takeoffs and landings), the tower would go private, which they very much did not want. So we tried to help them out by doing takeoff and landing instruction and practice at this airport rather than going to one of the nearby uncontrolled airports. This was some 20 years ago, and checking a recent list I see that it's still an FAA tower.