Arizona military bases brace for sequestration

March 01, 2013

Arizona’s military bases are preparing for the federal budget axe under sequestration. Officials at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale said they’ll significantly reduce flying that is not related to pilot training. 

Luke spokeswoman Holly Slaughter says the sequestration triggers furloughs for some civilian workers at the base. She said the furloughs may last for up to 22 days and would happen sometime before September. 

“For us here at Luke we have about 850 of our civilian employees who would be impacted by that. For them that amounts to about a 20 percent reduction in salary over that period and would equate to about $6.5 million," she said.

Slaughter said training of F-16 pilots at Luke will be dramatically reduced in the next few weeks.

And, officials at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson said they will have to furlough 1,300 civilian employees to save almost $7 million.

Meanwhile, Governor Jan Brewer said she fears the state may lose $140 million this year under the federal cuts. But, Brewer said the state has $450 million in its “rainy day” fund for fiscal emergencies.