Posted on 11/20/2017 5:12:07 AM PST by SandRat
It’s no surprise that Fort Huachuca is a boon to the local economies, or that the same can be said for bases across the state.
But the full scope of their contribution to the economy — 76,000 jobs, $11 billion in economic output, $255 million in local and state taxes — has been laid out in a new report commissioned by the state.
The report, released Wednesday by the governor’s office, breaks down the direct and indirect financial impact of various installations across Arizona. It is the third such report since 2002, but it has been nine years since the last study.
The report is focussed on the bases themselves and ignores the larger defense industry, so the impact of contractors such as Raytheon are not mentioned. It also took several years to compile, so the most recent data is from fiscal year 2014.
The scope of the study are six primary military bases including Fort Huachuca, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Luke Air Force Base, Yuma Army Proving Grounds, the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma and the Naval Observatory in Flagstaff. Additionally, it looked at four U.S. Army National Guard operations in the state.
Across these 10 sites, after calculating direct impact, the indirect impact of vendors and the supply chain, and the induced impact of wages spent in various communities, there is a $11.46 billion impact to Arizona’s bottomline. These bases are also contributing a total of $255.9 million in state and local sales, property and income taxes.
Fort Huachuca, Davis-Monthan and Luke are listed as the eighth, ninth and 10th-largest private employers in the state. Fort Huachuca alone is listed as responsible for, either directly or indirectly, more than 21,000 jobs, nearly $1 billion in wages and $2.9 billion in output.
And those figures don’t include the effect of the high number of retirees who stay in the community. The study lists 1,048 retirees still living within a 50-mile radius of Fort Huachuca.
Matt Walsh, Fort Huachuca’s executive liaison assistant to the commanding general, said the report, drafted with the data from the military, doesn’t contain any real surprises, but is a handy reference to quantify what each base is contributing to the surrounding communities.
And that’s helpful because the fort in particular is a significant contributor to the local economy, but that impact at times is overlooked by those in the Phoenix metro area.
“Fort Huachuca is no longer a sleepy little post in the state’s politique,” he said.
But what makes the report of the most use is that it’s coming from the state itself, and not the military. This is Arizona’s report and can be useful when talking with legislators and congressional delegations, he said.
Tom Finnegan, a Sierra Vistan and co-chair of the Governor’s Military Affairs Commission, said since the first report came out in 2002, it has been helpful because they can go to the legislature with hard numbers.
“It’s very hard to get anyone in Phoenix to spend money,” he said.
The results of previous reports persuaded the state legislature to set aside money for the Military Installation Fund, which locally has gone to obtaining easement and buying land to stop encroachment of development near Fort Huachuca, and shielding lights in Huachuca City to help night flight missions.
A significant piece of data for Finnegan is that while total jobs in the military industry dropped by nearly 7,000 from fiscal year 2000, the economic output still climbed from $5.6 billion to $11.46 billion. Part of that is better accounting, he said, but also reflects the amount being spent at Luke, Yuma and here on training for things such as unmanned aerial systems.
Tony Boone, Sierra Vista’s economic development manager, said the report has good, solid, quantified numbers, but also “easy sale numbers” for talking up the region. Boone said it will also help to have these numbers available as the city seeks to both strengthen ties with the fort while also diversifying the local economy.
“It does show you the important and reliance the city and the county have on Fort Huachuca,” he said.
Or is it more of an injection of taxpayer $$ via State/Fed PORK for as far as the eye can see.
‘World police’, while neglecting our own borders, takes a WHOLE lot of $$, peoples and exotic locations...while propping up Socialism in the area (IE: not having to pay for their OWN army/security, they have more of OPM to blow)
I was one of the last 15 families leaving Mather AFB in south Sacramento when it closed in 1993. I relinquished control of 65 facilities when they took them and released me to my new, and last, assignment. At that time, the surrounding city of Rancho Cordova was thriving with shops, restaurants, and an industrial section and railways, along with having an easy drive to two malls. The populous could easily be compared to any small town near Sacramento.
Went back in 2009 just to look around and it was a disaster. Hardly any shops were open, the industrial section had grown but that brings a different atmosphere to the area much tougher and dirtier than the little town I drove away from.
I remember Sen. Dan Inouye from California saying how the closing of Mather would have no impact on the surrounding area. He, and everyone else that saw dollars in the runway and building possibilities, was wrong. They even got the Sacramento Kings to use the athletic facilities for a training area which lasted for about a year. But when that base closed for south Sacramento, I remember Don MaClean’s the day the music died. Very appropriate.
rwood
While mentioning the unmanned mission at Fort Huachuca, they probably should have included the new simulator at Davis-Monthan, the new F-35A training mission at Luke which will easily last 25 years and the new F-35C missions at Yuma also likely to be around a few decades.
and they didn’t mention the AF Bone Yard at DM.
NAS SOUTH WEYMOUTH, MA. 1942-1997. South Weymouth fell into its own depression after the base was closed. The planned “luxury homes development” failed after builders discovered that money was short and 55 years of toxic ground pollution couldn’t be overcome. The former base is now a desolate mess.
A bit of topic drift here, but there are some who say the real secret of Area 51 is that the ground out there is super toxic from all the exotic fuels tested there. Some years ago, the Las Vegas Review Journal ran a "What's Going on Out there?" series of articles. In one report they said that local doctors treating people who worked out there discovered they had been exposed to something that was killing them. When they asked the government what these people were working with, they got no answer.
My brother lived in Vegas then, knew a few military guys and said that the EPA would have a stroke if they ever found out what was being dumped/spilled on the ground there.
Those infected are all dead now and the flap has died down, but I have to suspect that the "toxic chemical" thingy, and not aliens, is the true situation.
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