DAYTON — U.S. Rep. Mike Turner’s agreement with fellow congressional Republicans not to use budget earmarks this year to promote funding for favored hometown projects means that some Wright-Patterson Air Force Base projects could be delayed, he said Monday, March 15.

Turner, of Centerville, said he might otherwise have been inclined to use earmarks to obtain federal funding sooner for a $16 million project to build a research laboratory for the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson. That project is now slated to receive funding in 2014, but use of earmarks this year could have lined up the money sooner, he said at his district office in Dayton.

Funding could also be delayed for some other Wright-Patt research and development programs that must compete with funding demands for other military R&D programs around the country, Turner said.

The GOP decision last week not to use earmarks this year came as a number of Democratic and Republican lawmakers have stepped up efforts in recent days to rein in federal spending on hometown projects, prompting a competition between both parties on how best to reform the process.

Mark Owens, the Montgomery County Democratic Party chairman, said he supports examination of the budget earmarking and how it could be made more transparent. But not using earmarks at all this year could hurt federal funding for local projects, Owens said Monday.

“Wright-Patt shouldn’t end up losing stuff, and other bases gain it, just because our congressmen unilaterally decide not to use earmarks,” Owens said.

Last year, Turner convened a committee of business and current and former local government officials to review the current Dayton Development Coalition-guided system for evaluating proposed regional projects to sort out the priority ones for which the region will seek federal funding. It includes meetings with local officials and the region’s congressional delegation to present a unified list of priority projects, for Wright-Patterson and elsewhere in the area, for which federal budget dollars will be pursued.

Leaders of the eight-member committee released their report Monday, saying they found the local project assessment procedure a good system that could be improved by better communication with public officials and other advocates for project funding.

Committee members recommended a requirement that those administering projects that receive federal funding report back to the Dayton Development Coalition later on how the money is being spent and whether promised goals were met.

Project proposals that have the potential for local matching money have a better chance at being rated highly for presentation to Washington, committee members said.

Turner said he is considering proposing legislation to make Dayton’s local project assessment system a model for that process across the nation. That could help assure funding of local projects with the broadest possible impact, he said.

Last year, Turner requested 21 earmarks based on a list of 76 priorities submitted by the coalition. In an announcement last week, he said he would not use budget earmarks this year to promote funding for favored projects.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.