Economic Impact of CAFB on local economy

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Stephanie Englar
  • 14th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Base and community leaders attended a Base Community Council luncheon June 7 at the Columbus Club on Columbus Air Force Base. The main subject of the luncheon was to cover the economic impact for Columbus Air Force Base for the 2012 fiscal year.

The mission for Columbus Air Force Base is to produce pilots, advance airmen, and feed the fight. In order to complete this vital task, Columbus AFB flies approximately 267 sorties a day- making our air traffic control complex the busiest in the United States Air Force for three of the last four years.

Last year, Columbus AFB graduated 420 officers through all of the flying training programs and sent another 31 student pilots to other bases to finish their training. Columbus AFB flew 58,850 sorties and 81,603 hours in the 2012 fiscal year.

Between personnel and payroll, indirect jobs and annual expenditures the economic impact for Columbus AFB was $343.2 million for the 2012 fiscal year.

Columbus AFB saw an increase of 625 personnel since the 2011 fiscal year, which brought the total work force up to 3,622. Of that number, 1,591 are military members, 1297 are contract personnel, 487 are civil service workers, 141 are workers with Non-Appropriated funds, 57 AAFES workers, 38 Commissary workers and 11 workers from the Credit Union.

In 2012, personnel accounted for $143.8 million in payroll expenditures. This is up $3.6 million from 2011, as there was an increase of contract jobs.

Along with the jobs created on base, there were 1228 indirect jobs created. Indirect jobs are jobs created on the local economy in order to support Columbus AFB and its personnel with sufficient goods and services. Indirect jobs accounted for $2.4 million in payroll expenditures for the 2012 fiscal year.

While not a part of the $343 million economic impact, there are 5,714 military retirees who contribute to the local economy. Of those retirees, 2,690 are Army, 1,945 are Air Force, 868 are Navy, 167 are Marines and 44 are Coast Guard.

Annual Expenditures accounted for $150 million in the overall economic impact. For the 2012 fiscal year, the amount spent on construction projects increased $62.3 million, primarily due to the center runway construction and the medical clinic renovations. The increase brought the overall amount spent up to $67.2 million.

Along with construction, $75.4 million dollars were spent on contracts, supplies, and equipment. The primary driver for this category is service contracts which account for 75 percent. The service contracts include the DynCorp aircraft maintenance contract, custodial services, grounds maintenance, a physician assistant, and chapel service contracts.

Miscellaneous Expenditures accounted for $7.46 million dollars out of the $150 million. Ninety nine percent of those miscellaneous expenditures were attributed to health care which came in at $7.39 million. From 2011 to 2012, Columbus AFB saw a slight decrease in local hospital support and Tri-Care payments of $110 thousand dollars.

Information for this article has been adapted from the Economic Impact Report for Fiscal Year 2012. http://www.columbus.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-130612-022.pdf