Report shows state benefits from military bases

Arizona has more than 9 billion reasons to try to save its military bases from the next round of closures, according to a new report released today.

The study shows the bases, with their more than 45,000 employees, have a direct impact on the state's economy of more than $3.2 billion.

On top of that, the report commissioned by the state says there is another $4.4 billion in indirect economic impact. That is the amount of activity by vendors and suppliers who feed off the military bases.

And there is also $1.4 billion in what the report calls induced impact, the money spent by employees of both the military and the suppliers.

The new report comes as the federal government may be gearing up for another round of base closures. And the study says that the continued encroachment of development around many of the facilities may make them more vulnerable to scrutiny by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

But the report also comes less than a month after a new budget crafted by Gov. Janet Napolitano and Senate legislative leaders opted not to make this year's $4.8 million allocation into the Military Installation Fund. That account, created by lawmakers in 2004, is designed to provide cash to buy up land – or at least development rights – around military bases to keep new homes a safe distance.

And the budget deal also takes away another $3 million already in the account.

Aides to the governor did not immediately respond to requests for comment about those decisions.

Arizona lost Williams Air Force Base in the early 1990s.

Ultimately, Arizona managed to escape with no real damage in the 2005 round, with just 550 jobs lost in the entire state. The largest of those were at Luke Air Force Base which shed 101 military and 177 civilian jobs.

But the new report warns that another round of BRAC is expected in the years ahead. One function of the report is to warn of potential economic impacts.

"Maintaining these operations and the jobs and economic output they support should be a priority of state and local government,'' the report states.

Encroachment remains an issue. The study warns that the bases were on the fringes of population centers when they were created. That is no longer true.

"In the last few decades, Arizona's sustained growth and development have, in some cases, brought development closer to the formal boundaries of some bases and into the adjacent, off-base areas that are crucial to the safe and prudent execution of military activities from those facilities,'' the report reads.

Loss of any of the facilities, the study says, could have a big impact.

With more than 45,000 employees, the state's military is almost as large as state government, with 49,000 workers, not counting the universities. And it is far larger than Wal-Mart which, at 29,000, is Arizona's largest private employers.