DAYTON The nation’s base-closing commission voted yesterday to keep open military-payroll centers in Columbus and Cleveland, preserving 3,100 jobs and reversing a Pentagon recommendation to close the Cleveland office.
By a 7-0 vote, the panel agreed to maintain the Defense Finance and Accounting Service offices in both cities, ensuring that the jobs there don’t decrease from their current levels and positioning the Cleveland office to grow by at least 400 jobs.
The Pentagon wanted to close the Cleveland office, which would have eliminated about 1,100 of the 1,400 jobs.
Earlier, the commission voted to keep in place the Air Force Institute of Technology, which employs 500 workers and trains 900 graduate students in engineering and meteorology.
The commission decided to consolidate the 26 military-payroll offices around the country in Cleveland, Columbus, Indianapolis, Rome, N.Y., and Limestone, Maine.
DFAS is the fourth largest employer in the Cleveland area, with an annual payroll of $65 million.
The panel also voted to at least maintain the 2,000 DFAS jobs in Columbus.
The Pentagon initially recommended consolidating all 26 DFAS offices in Columbus, Denver and Indianapolis, but later added those cities to its list of proposed closings.
Columbus DFAS is located at the Defense Supply Center, a 550-acre compound home to 23 Defense Department agencies that employ 6,160 workers. It is the 12th largest employer in the region and has an annual payroll of $168 million.
Among the DFAS offices voted to be closed is one in the Dayton suburb of Kettering that would result in the loss of 240 jobs.
The commission will send its final report next month to President Bush, who could make his own changes. Congress will get the chance to reject the plan after Bush considers it. Lawmakers haven’t done that in previous rounds.
Supporters had feared the Air Force Institute at Wright-Patterson would be moved to Monterey, Calif., as part of a merger with the Naval Postgraduate School. By a unanimous vote, the panel instead voted to create a board to oversee the operations of both schools.
The commission also voted to move the School of Aerospace Medicine and related programs at Brooks City-Base in Texas to Wright-Patterson, a move that would add about 800 jobs to the 20,000-person work force there.
The Air Force institute, which has an annual payroll of $50 million, offers degrees in aeronautical, astronautical, and nuclear engineering and as well as space operations that includes programs in rocket propulsion and satellite control. It also manages the educational programs of officers in civilian universities.
