Budget cuts threaten state armories

The state's stinging budget crises hasn't forced the Missouri National Guard to close any of its armories yet -- but it could if the situation doesn't improve.

That's what a National Guard officer from Jefferson City told a few current and former Guard troops Friday afternoon at a special meeting at the Cape Girardeau armory.

"Next year, if the economy's still bad and things haven't improved, some tough decisions are going to have to be made," said Lt. Col. Dennis Cruts, a deputy military executive. "Right now, we're crossing our fingers that things will get better."

$1.2 million decrease

With the state's possible $1 billion budget shortfall, cuts have been planned throughout various departments and the Guard has not been immune. Cruts said that Gov. Bob Holden's recommended budget for the state calls for cutting Guard funding by $1.2 million to $5.5 million, which is about a 17.8 percent decrease.

Over the past two years, the Guard's budget has been slashed by 28 percent. That has caused the Guard to reduce its number of full-time state employees from 161 this year to 129 next year, mostly through planned attrition, Cruts said. There are 1,900 full-time federal employees in the Guard.

The Guard also eliminated a program for at-risk youth called the Missouri Challenge Program, held at Camp Clark in Nevada, Mo.

If the economy worsens, the next step may be closing or consolidating armories.

"We're going to do everything we can, but I can't say for sure there won't be any consolidations and closures," Cruts said. "We're hoping for a turnaround."

Having said that, Cruts was quick to add that he didn't think the Cape Girardeau armory -- with its 213 drilling members, 38 full-time federal employees and one full-time state employee -- would be cut. He said it serves a wide area and that it usually "is at full strength," meaning the armory meets its recruitment and retention goals.

"This armory's probably pretty safe," he said.

Runaway budget

The Guard soldiers spoke during a question-and-answer discussion, mostly to complain about letting the situation get this bad.

"We've just had a runaway budget for the past 10 years," said retired Guard member Paul Summer. "It'd be easy to get used to. But you can't keep up like that."

Don Koehler, also a retired Guard member, said the government needs to budget like regular people do.

"Some of us take salary cuts," he said. "But we all figure out how to live with it. You can't have an income of $10 a day and live like it's $50 a day. It's going to take some belt tightening."

The federal government provides the $330 million it takes to provide vehicles, uniforms and to the pay the salaries of the roughly 11,000 soldiers who serve in the Air and Army National Guard in Missouri. The federal government spent $3.8 million for the payroll for Cape Girardeau and $300,000 for Jackson's payroll.

But the state pays to keep up the armories. The state provides $97,000 to keep up the Cape Girardeau armory and $15,000 for the Jackson armory. The state's portion may seem small, but Cruts said it's important.

"If we lose some more of that money, it will be bad," he said.

Cruts said a couple of things might happen to help. Lawmakers are looking to authorize the sale of bonds, which would be retired with money from Missouri's settlement with the tobacco industry. The state is slated to get $4.5 billion over 25 years from the settlement. That money could be used to address the shortfall, Cruts said.

Also, certain tax loopholes have caused the state to lose money for years and the Legislature is looking to fix those, which Cruts said could improve funding.

When armories close, Cruts said, soldiers would have to drive to other armories to drill.

"It wouldn't be a good situation," he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137