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BRAC grazes Charleston
By Matthew French
Staff Writer
Compared to 10 years ago, the Charleston region largely dodged the BRAC bullet. When the dust settled, Charleston, and all of South Carolina, emerged largely intact.
The Charleston area stands to lose more than 1,100 jobs over the next several years, but many of those employees may be absorbed into the private sector because of the strong economy the area is experiencing, experts say.
The Defense Department routinely evaluates its facilities to determine how it can operate in a more cost-effective and efficient manner and eliminates those facilities that no longer serve the department’s changing war-fighting role.
The evaluation committee, the Pentagon’s Base Realignment and Closure committee, released its list of proposed closures and realignments for military facilities around the country earlier this month.
While the Lowcountry will lose jobs, it could have been far worse, economics and workforce experts agree.
In Charleston, the fear was that one of the area’s Big Three—the Air Force base, the Naval Weapons Station/Nuclear Power School or the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center—could fall under the axe, resulting in the loss of thousands of military jobs for the second time in a decade.
The Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the branch of the DOD responsible for accounting and payroll, took a considerable hit nationwide, including the Charleston office. DFAS will consolidate most of its operations into three locations, and Charleston’s workforce of 368 will likely be eliminated.
The South Naval Facilities Engineering Command, which employs six military and nearly 500 civilian workers, could also be closed. The Pentagon is looking to consolidate that particular command, which handles much of the infrastructure and construction needs for the Navy, in Jacksonville, Fla.
“We were anticipating that NAVFAC could be on the list, but we’ve been fighting for two years to stop that,” says Mary Graham, vice president of public policy for the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce. “We feel we have a very strong case that shutting it down would not produce the savings to justify it appearing on the list. We are going to work through the BRAC committee to show that this is a flawed recommendation.”
In addition to NAVFAC and DFAS, the Naval Weapons Station is poised to lose half of its military personnel and about a third of its civilian workforce. The Pentagon recommended that 125 of the 260 military employees and 125 of the approximately 330 civilian employees be eliminated.
The fact that the Nuclear Power School, Air Force base and SPAWAR emerged unscathed caused a collective sigh of relief from the local economic community.
“One of our key arguments was to push that Charleston is a ‘joint’ military complex,” says Graham, referring to the military term for multiple services working together.
“The realignment of the Naval Weapons Station, as we understand it, means that about 65 of the jobs lost there will be consolidated at the Charleston Air Force Base. We’re pretty excited about that because, as DOD moves into more of a joint direction, Charleston is already aligned in that way.”
Absorbing the losses
While Charleston stands to lose these jobs, Graham agrees with Al Parish, director of the Center for Economic Forecasting at Charleston Southern University, that the displaced employees will likely find comparable work. Parish estimates that the total loss to the community will be about $100 million, largely in spending in the community and taxes. While that number sounds overwhelming, Parish says the total military contribution to the Charleston area is nearly $4.5 billion, meaning the $100 million is only about 2.6% of the total military impact.
“We have to remember that these are real people we’re talking about and not just positions,” says Parish. “While the impact on the community may be relatively small, the impact on the people whose jobs are lost or moved will be huge.”
However, the economic impact to the region could be negligible, or even positive, Parish asserts.
“It’s not going to make much of a dent,” he says. “The simple answer is that the Vought-Alenia deal is going to make up for it.”
Late last year, aircraft giant Boeing selected Charleston for the location of its newest aircraft manufacturing site and selected the Texas-based Vought and its Italian partner, Alenia, to build the fuselage at a site adjacent to the airport. Vought plans to hire about 650 people in direct manufacturing, management and administrative posts, and Parish speculates that more than 1,600 support and third-tier jobs would be created as a result.
The region is also pursuing a second major aircraft manufacturer in the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., parent corporation of aircraft giant Airbus, and having a highly skilled, qualified labor force recently employed by the
military could throw weight behind the Charleston argument, Parish says.
“It’s a perverse statement, but it could definitely help us get Airbus, in the long run,” he says. “And if we land Airbus, we’re well ahead of the game.”
Charleston has experienced employment growth for a number of years, and that too, could help the displaced federal workers, says Graham.
“The community and economy can easily absorb the losses,” she says. “But this is not by any stretch a done deal. We’re still going to fight for these jobs.”
State Rep. Jim Merrill, R-Daniel Island, says despite the overall good news received by the state, including growth at Shaw Air Force Base, Fort Jackson and the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, congressmen from the Palmetto State will look for ways to reduce the cuts.
“The people of South Carolina have always stood behind the troops stationed here, and we’re proud of their service,” he says. Even though generally good news was announced, Merrill says he will work with the delegation in Washington to preserve every job and every mission assigned to this state.
The process
The BRAC list is a list of recommended sites for closure and realignment. Appearing on the list is often a harbinger of doom for the facility; however, there is the possibility of salvation. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented the BRAC list to an appointed committee who evaluates each recommendation and will send the altered list to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president then approves the list or sends it back to the commission for further evaluation. Bush will then send the list to Congress, which either passes the list in its entirety or rejects it outright.
“There isn’t a zero percent chance that one of our facilities wouldn’t be taken off the list; it’s a tough row to hoe,” says Parish. “It is possible, just not likely.”
Matthew French covers governmental policy and legislation for the Business Journal. E-mail him at mfrench@crbj.com.
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