Fiscal Notes, July 2004

Texas military bases, communities preparing for possible closures
Covering Our Bases

Communities near Texas' military bases are defending against the next round of Base Realignments and Closures (BRAC), scheduled for 2005. The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has conducted four rounds of BRAC since 1988 to streamline military operations and save taxpayer money, but eliminating bases can be disastrous to the local communities whose economies depend on them.
Since the first BRAC round in 1988, Texas has lost 14,600 jobs and seven major military installations, according to a 2003 report from the Texas Military Preparedness Commission (TMPC).
Texas' 17 active-duty military instillations are home to more than 195,000 active-duty service members, Reserve and National Guard members and civilian employees. In fiscal 2001, the bases received $18.4 billion from the DOD for an estimated economic impact of $43.5 billion, according to the TMPC report.
"The DOD is the largest single employer in the state," said Michael Smith, executive director of TMPC. "The military forces in Texas represent about 11 percent of all U.S. military forces."
Pre-emptive strike
"What is very frightening about this BRAC round is that 20 percent of the bases [in the U.S.] will be shut," said State Sen. Leticia Van de Putte of San Antonio, chair of the Veteran Affairs and Military Installations committee. "Potentially, that is three or four of our bases."
Proving that the best defense is a good offense, in 2003, Texas lawmakers passed several measures that would increase the "military value" of Texas bases, a key measure in the upcoming BRAC round.
The DOD will judge the military value of a base by the relevance of its mission, whether it is training and deploying troops or building and repairing equipment, and how effectively and efficiently the base carries out its mission, Van de Putte said.
One measure Texas legislators created to increase Texas' military value was Proposition 20, approved by voters in 2003. Proposition 20 authorized a $250 million revolving loan fund that defense communities use to strengthen infrastructure and make bases more valuable to the DOD, Van de Putte said.
"The communities themselves, particularly our smaller communities, might not have the economic development dollars to make some of these improvements," Van de Putte said.
About 40 communities surrounding Texas bases would be eligible for the loan, Smith said.
"If a community and a base want to get together to create a water treatment plant to guarantee that the community and the base will have water for the next 50 years, then that would be an example of something that they could use the loan for," Smith said.
While Texas' deep-water ports and open spaces add to the state's military value, the DOD will also judge bases on the quality of life provided to military families.
That's why, in 2003, Texas passed legislation requiring the Texas Education Agency to create reciprocity agreements with other states, making it easier for military personnel and their dependents to transfer to and from Texas public schools without losing credit, Van de Putte said.
There's no place like ...
The Secretary of Defense must submit the list of bases recommended for closure by May 2005 to the congressional defense committees and the BRAC commission, but local communities aren't waiting until their bases are on the chopping block to take action.
"You can't wait until your name's on the list to start working it; you have to start working it everyday," said retired Lt. Gen. Pete Taylor, former commander of Fort Hood.
Taylor is chairman of the Heart of Texas Defense Alliance, a three-county coalition that advocates for the region's defense industry.
Fort Hood, located near Killeen, is the largest military post in the world and the largest single-site employer in Texas, Taylor said. The base's annual economic impact is $3.9 billion, and it employs more than 44,000 soldiers, he said.
Due to Fort Hood's size, Taylor doubts the base would close altogether, and he believes the base is ideally suited to accommodate soldiers from other base closures. When units are shifted from one base to another, it is called "realignment."
"The largest military post in the world is not likely to close, but it is subject to be realigned," Taylor said. "They [the DOD] can juggle the forces up or down. We think Fort Hood is a great candidate for taking in other soldiers."
The alliance is working with local housing officials, businesses and school districts to help them understand the importance of accommodating additional soldiers and their families, Taylor said.
The South Texas Military Task Force, a three-county regional group organized under the Corpus Christi Chamber of Commerce, formed in 1993 to prepare for BRAC rounds in 1993 and 1995, said Corpus Christi Mayor Loyd Neal. The task force hired local consultant Gary Bushell and Karalekas and Noone, an organization in Washington, to represent the bases in South Texas.
In 1985, citizens in Nueces County voted to support ad valorem taxes to pay for $25 million in homeport bonds used for land and channel improvements, Neal said. This tax lured Naval Air Station Ingleside to Corpus Christi and paid for part of its construction, Neal said.
The base's contribution to the local economy more than made up for the community's $25 million investment, Neal said.
The annual economic impact of Naval Station Ingleside, the Corpus Christi Army Depot and the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi is between $700 million and $800 million annually, with an additional indirect economic impact of $300 million to $400 million, Neal said. The bases also employ between 15,000 to 18,000 people, he said.
San Angelo, home to Goodfellow Air Force Base (AFB), is also taking steps to make the base more cost effective, said Michael Dalby, president and CEO of the San Angelo Chamber of Commerce.
San Angelo recently agreed to maintain water and sewer systems for the base, Dalby said. The city also set aside $10,000 to help trainees pay apartment deposits when there is not enough base housing for all the trainees, he said.
Even without these incentives, San Angelo is a cost-effective place to do business, Dalby said.
"The cost per trainee in San Angelo is among the lowest in the nation," Dalby said. "We feel that if you move the missions from San Angelo and set them up somewhere else, it will cost a lot more."
Goodfellow AFB brings in about $283 million to the local economy, which is about one-third of the total economy in San Angelo, Dalby said.
Backing off BRAC
Some U.S. lawmakers believe that with the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now is not the time to close military bases. U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz of Corpus Christi authored a bill that would delay BRAC for at least two years.
"He thinks it's an awfully bad idea to close bases during a time of war," said Ortiz's press secretary, Cathy Travis.
Ortiz also said the Department of Homeland Security is just getting started, and department officials don't yet know what kinds of resources they will need.
"They could need resources from bases that they close in 2005," Travis said.

Angela Freeman