Posted on 08/01/2007 4:36:09 AM PDT by Calpernia
However slim, there may still be a chance to avert the closure of Fort Monmouth. New Jersey's U.S. Senators have introduced legislation that would trigger a reconsideration of major base closings that will cost far more than what was estimated during the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. The legislation will create a mechanism to require a re-evaluation of any major base realignment or closure should the actual cost exceed BRAC's estimated cost by more than 25%.
The closing of New Jersey's Fort Monmouth is now expected to cost almost twice its original $780 million price tag. Menendez says, "The point of this process was to reduce costs, but now the price tag for some of these base closings is ballooning out of control and taxpayers are the ones carrying the burden…..if taxpayers are being forced to foot an enormous bill they weren't expecting, there should be an escape hatch."
The three-phase trigger mechanism is intricate, but here's how it is designed to work; If the Secretary of Defense determines that the actual cost of implementing a major base closure or realignment recommendation has exceeded the original cost estimate - which was the basis for the law passed by Congress - by more than 25%, the Secretary shall notify the Chairman and Ranking Member of Congressional Defense Committees and devise a business plan to reduce the cost of the base closure or realignment (without re-adjusting the baseline estimated cost) so that it does not exceed a 25 percent increase. Within 45 days, the Secretary will submit a recommendation to the President on whether to continue the base closure or realignment.
The President will then have 30 days to make a recommendation to Congress on whether to continue the base closure or realignment. Menendez explains, "If the President suggests going forward with the closure, the congress would have the option to cast a vote and say, 'No, we disagree with you Mr. President, it's too expensive."
"In New Jersey, we have communities and families that will be greatly impacted by the closing of Fort Monmouth," says Menendez, "knowing that the decision was based on miscalculations and misinformation does not sit well with our state, and it should not sit well with taxpayers across the country either."
The BRAC Commission's original, one-time implementation cost estimate of $21 billion has ballooned to a current price tag of $30 billion which translates to a 43% increase. Lautenberg says the bill would, "provide a method to review the closure of Fort Monmouth so that we can reevaluate the decision to close the base that was based upon faulty information. I look forward to working to get this legislation enacted into law."
Ex-FBI Analyst Faces Prison in Spy Plot (involved Phillipines)
>>>>Leandro Aragoncillo, 46, of Woodbury in Gloucester County, New Jersey, an FBI analyst at Fort Monmouth Information Technology Center (FMITC) in Monmouth County since July 2004.<<
ML/NJ
Hey! That’s where I served for 3 years!
Did Monmouth or NJ receive Fed monies for having the base? Maybe that is what the politicos will miss. Not too many politicos here normally show an interest in local anything.
I hope you got a T-Shirt saying, “I survived Fort Monmouth”
:)
I can remember being at a "town meeting" where Millicent Fenwick bragged about her efforts to keep Picatinny Arsenal open. I remember wondering if she would have cared so much about it if it were in Idaho.
ML/NJ
I live not too far from Aberdeen MD so I’m selfishly pulling for Fort Monmouth to close and all those folks to come down here to Aberdeen and Ft Meade – we need their tax dollars and their spending we could also use what I would expect as being more Republican minded voters? I sure hope so because we need them – LOL!
Seriously, in Maryland, we’ve already invested a whole lot of money in building new schools and road projects in anticipation of BRAC. I’m not looking forward to the increased congestion but I’m also (selfishly) counting on the real estate boom and the value of my home increasing. I’d be fairly pi$$ed to have spent all that money on BRAC for nothing.
And it makes sense to me to move national security folks to the Ft Meade area as that’s the home of NSA and all the “Beltway Bandits” who support them.
And Aberdeen Proving Grounds and Edgewood Arsenal, aside from blowing stuff up (and I can hear that from my house), they have a large procurement division. I know folks who work in that area and they are looking forward to the increased opportunities for advancement that this expansion will bring.
Bump.
Also close to a real good race track and smack next to Eatontown, NJ.
When I was there, one could go to Reb Bank and/or Long Branch and hear soon-to-be-famous rock abd rol bands for a $2.00 cover charge.
Monmouth Park. Great track.
When I was there, one could go to Reb Bank and/or Long Branch and hear soon-to-be-famous rock abd rol bands for a $2.00 cover charge.
How far back was that? Did you ever make it to Sea Bright?
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