Budget Cuts

Thousands of civilian workers at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base are being offered the option to retire early or take a buyout. The buyouts are an effort to prepare for a cut of 372 positions at the base this fall.

Many of the positions to be cut aren’t currently filled, and by offering early retirement and buyout options, Wright-Patt officials hope to move those who stay into open jobs elsewhere on the base.

“We just want to make sure that we take care of our people, that’s our key objective,” says Wright-Patt spokesman Daryl Mayer.

In an effort to save costs under a shrinking military budget, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base announced earlier this year it would form partnerships with local governments, organizations and businesses.  

Now the base is moving forward with those plans: In Riverside Wednesday, Col. Cassie Barlow. Commander of the 88th Air Base Wing, announced that Wright-Patt and some of its new partners now had more concrete ideas to push forward. 

Leaders from Dayton, Cincinnati, and several other cities are calling on Republican Governor John Kasich to restore funds to local governments in a two-day tour called “Stop the Kasich Raid.” Municipalities have seen cuts in the last two state budgets totaling over $1.5 billion from several funding sources.

Speaking on the steps of Dayton City Hall, Cincinnati City Council member P.G. Sittenfeld targeted John Kasich for the rollbacks in local budgets.

A report released by the Pentagon this week warns of the consequences of continuing to fund the military at sequestration levels. The across-the-board spending caps have been relieved by a budget deal in Congress, but the Pentagon is saying that by 2021, the Department of Defense will have spent $1 trillion less than it had planned, making cuts in almost all areas including acquisition, research and personnel.

Thursday is the second day of meetings at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for small businesses in the defense industry. The event is part of an effort on the part of the Air Force to work more with small contractors; base officials say it helps them stay efficient as the government cuts defense budgets.

Those cuts have been bad news for local industry, which provides the Air Force with everything from computer systems to research to airplane parts—but not all contractors are feeling the same pain.

Large contractors cash in