The Air Force Materiel Command, the organization that oversees the base with a workforce of 29,700 people, ordered the immediate cost-cutting measures Wednesday in line with a Pentagon directive issued earlier this month.
The command added it has “no current near term plans to furlough civilians.” However, Department of Defense leaders have said 30-day furloughs, or unpaid time off, are possible if sequestration is not avoided.
“We don’t expect these near-term reductions to solve the entire fiscal challenge facing us in the event sequestration is triggered or we receive significant topline reductions,” Gen. Janet Wolfenbarger, AFMC commander, said in a statement. “These near-term actions are only small steps towards absorbing the impact. Planning is underway for the possibility of larger reductions.”
Officials did not immediately have a date on when the near-term actions will be completed, but the measures must be reversible, according to the Air Force.
The base will retain temporary or term government workers who are “mission critical,” in areas such as law enforcement, health care, and flight line operations, among other positions, said Col. Cassie Barlow, commander of the 88th Air Base Wing, which runs base operations.
“What we’re going through right now is trying to figure out which one of those employees are in mission-critical positions, and we will be retaining all of those people that are in mission critical positions,” she said at a press conference at the base headquarters.
In preparation for the cuts, Wright-Patterson has already reduced spending on operations by 20 percent this year out of a budget of $70 million, she said.
“I’d like to think we’re prepared for the budget constraints,” Barlow said. “It’s always difficult to go through budget cuts and this one will be difficult as well.”
AFMC also has ordered:
- Canceling all travel that is not essential, such as conference attendance.
- Reviewing overseas contingency operations for possible reductions that do not impact wartime operations.
- Curtailing air show flyovers. The restriction does not apply to the Air Force Thunderbirds, however, the Air Force said.
- Curtailing or canceling studies that aren't congressionally mandated.
- Curbing supply purchases.
- Deferring maintenance and modernization projects.
- "Where practical" cancel or incrementally fund service contracts that last until Oct. 31, and defer the rest of the contract. That means Wright-Patterson will review contracts that provide services to the base, according to spokesman Daryl Mayer.
“We have to go through and review all of that and where it’s possible to make accommodations to better utilize funding,” he said.
The hiring freeze will not impact a growing civilian police force at Wright-Patterson, Barlow said. Fifty civilian officers are on the job and another 20 are expected to be hired, she said.
Troy Tingey, president of American Federation of Government Employees Council 214, which represents thousands of AFMC civilian workers, had concerns about not filling crucial positions lost through attrition or retirement.
Temporary government workers should have the opportunity to fill those jobs, he said in a telephone interview from Hill Air Force Base in Utah.
Many temporary government employees fall under contract work rules “so the means of their termination would have to be negotiated,” he said.
“If they just come out and say you’re no longer mission critical, we’re going to ask for the (reduction in force) procedures,” he said. “We believe that’s something management is obligated to do.”
He said he agreed with other cost-cutting measures, such as travel restrictions and stopping airshow flybys.
Deborah Gross, executive director of the Dayton Area Defense Contractors Association, said she’s unaware of any area defense-related layoffs, but the continued uncertainty has led local defense contractors to hold off filling vacant jobs.
“Nobody is going to fill any positions until they know what’s being cut,” she said. “Obviously, you can’t do anything until you know what positions are going to be cut. Everybody is just holding on tight waiting to see what programs are going to be affected.”
Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, D.C, said in an email Wright-Patterson and the Air Force will need to slow the rate of spending in the months ahead to prepare for a possible reduction in fiscal year spending of up to 10 percent.
“I would expect that nearly everyone at Wright-Patt will begin to see the impact over the coming weeks as temporary employees are let go, DoD civilians are not replaced when they leave, and contractor support is subject to additional scrutiny,” he wrote Wednesday. “The total headcount on the base should gradually start to decline.”
The immediate actions were expected with more serious, deeper budget cuts looming if Congress and the president fail to prevent sequestration by March. That would trigger the start of $492 billion in spending reductions through the next decade. Separately, the Pentagon has agreed to $487 billion in cuts over 10 years, thus far.
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