More help for Hill AFB

Utah's Hill Air Force Base may receive another state taxpayer donation in an effort to keep it open as the next round of federal base closures comes up in 2005.

House Majority Assistant Whip Mike Styler, R-Delta, said Tuesday that legislative leaders have been asked to support a $1.5 million appropriation to buy more private land around the Air Force base between Ogden and Layton.

The 2003 Legislature, though facing a tough revenue year, spent $2 million to extend a runway in Tooele County, now being used for emergency landings for aircraft flying out of Hill and over the Utah Test and Training Range in the west desert. That was an effort to shore up Hill's functionality and help keep it open.

U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, who persuaded lawmakers to give the $2 million last year, told House members earlier this session the newly lengthened runway at Michael Army Airfield at Tooele County's Dugway Proving Ground has been used for 20 emergency landings since it was finished last year.

The $20 million F-16s that routinely fly training missions over the test range are sometimes closer to Michael Army Airfield than Hill AFB, and the Tooele facility is therefore preferable for some emergency landings.

Styler said it's his understanding from a briefing Tuesday that some of the new money would go to buy a private school in Layton close to the base as well as other property. The school and other properties encroaching on the base's air space would be moved.

Rick Mayfield, Utah Defense Alliance CEO, said the Legislature has appropriated money in years past to buy property to keep Hill's runways free from encroachment in order to help secure its future.

Hill, with its 24,000 civilian jobs, pumps $1 billion in payroll directly into the Utah economy. Its additional 23,000 civilian contractor jobs put more money into the economy. In all, Hill is estimated to have a $4.3 billion impact on Utah's economy, according to Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

Hatch and the other members of Utah's congressional delegation met with state leaders last Friday to show their united support for Hill and the state's other military installations. While it has two fighter wings, one a Reserve unit and the other a regular Air Force unit, Hill is one of three air logistics depots left after the 1999 round of base closings.

State government has available more than $100 million in so-called "one-time" money, both in the current budget year and the next fiscal year, which starts July 1.

"Thank goodness this is a one-time expense," joked House budget Chairman Rep. Ron Bigelow, R-West Valley.

It's Bigelow's job to oversee the balancing of Utah's $8 billion 2004-2005 spending plan, now being put together before next Wednesday's adjournment.

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