Cherry Point has long, important reach

Pat Joyce knows firsthand the impact Cherry Point has on the region. The owner of Joyce and Associates Construction out of Newport has 40 employees who understand it as well.

"About 95 percent of my business is military, split evenly between Cherry Point and Camp Lejeune," he said. "Cherry Point drastically affects my ability to keep people employed and to stay in business."

Joyce and Associates Construction was listed as the top contractor doing business on the base in Cherry Point’s annual economic impact statement released on Friday. The firm did $13.4 million worth of work on the base in 2011, part of the base’s $2 billion impact on the region overall.

For the construction company, the work at Cherry Point ranges from office and building renovations to runaway pavement repair, and many times the work is handled through local subcontractors who employ hundreds more.

"We subcontract the majority of our work," Joyce said. "We use as many local subcontractors as we can."

He said the report shows the importance of the base to the region as well as the importance of protecting the base from major defense cuts.

"I wouldn’t know what to think if there are major cutbacks, and I’m afraid there might be," he said. "I’m very concerned about it. It would be drastic for us."

As if they needed more reasons, the report gives base supporters and lobbyists another two billion to ramp up the effort to protect the base, and provides them a way to communicate the base’s importance to the public.

"It gives the facts and figures that the public needs to see," said Jim Davis of the Craven County Economic Development Commission. "We need to promote it far and wide so that the citizens know the assets of MCAS Cherry Point and all tenets aboard that station. We had been told that the forecast was for it to be a two billion (dollar) asset. It’s good to see the numbers increasing in the way they tabulate the figures."

The $2 billion is about $300 million more than the previous year, but the report mentions that gross pay was used in the calculations rather than net pay. The $1.3 billion in active-duty, civilian and retired salaries is about $260 million higher than 2010 but does not necessarily reflect an increase in workforce, according to the report.

Overall, Cherry Point employs 14,915 workers, including 9,554 military personnel. That’s down about 300 from last year. About 75 percent of the 4,578 civilian workforce works at the Fleet Readiness Center East aircraft repair and maintenance facility.

"It just reiterates what we have said all along and that’s the irreplaceable asset that we have at Cherry Point," said Jimmy Sanders, mayor of Havelock as well as president of the Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow lobby group. "We just need to continue to do all that we can to protect our economy but at the same time protect our nation’s military."

ACT, a group of business, government and community leaders, is reorganizing in an effort to protect the base from defense cuts as well as a possible Base Realignment and Closure process that could take place as soon as next year.

ACT officials are concerned about declining numbers of aircraft at the base with deactivation of Cherry Point’s four Prowler squadrons occurring before the decade ends. Cuts and delays in the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter program have also raised concerns with the group.

Still, the report highlights the influence the base has in the region, with nearly 39,000 of Craven County’s 103,000 people — as well as others in Carteret, Pamlico and Jones counties — somehow connected financially to Cherry Point.

Stephanie Duncan, executive director of the Havelock Chamber of Commerce, points out that many business owners may not get a check from the base but feel its effects from customers the air station provides.

"It’s a trickle-down thing," Duncan said. "There’s people affected maybe not directly but indirectly."

She said the report is good for the area in that it shows an increase in the base’s economic impact.

"It just goes to show how steady the military is and what it contributes," she said. "And, it shows that it really, really matters to protect it. That should be a goal for all of us."

The complete report is scheduled to be put online at the Cherry Point website at www.marines.mil/unit/mcascherrypoint/Pages/default.aspx.