The cuts coming to Wright Patterson Air Force Base and other facilities are expected to hit the local economy hard, especially if and when furloughs take affect.

Some base workers are facing a loss of 20 % of their pay during the sequestration period. That’s money they won’t be spending at businesses around the base, like Cakes For All Occasions. “Anything that effects our customers is going to effect our business and Fairborn works with Wright-Patt so much that it’s going to hurt,” said owner Joanne Little.

The base is the region’s largest employer and because of that, the Dayton Development Coalition has been tracking sequestration and its impact. Joe Zeis, a retired Air Force Colonel, said it will hit our economy in a few weeks. “As furloughs become a reality, government civilian workers for the rest of the year will lose 20 percent of their salaries. Your neighbors and families are furloughed for 22 days through the end of the year.” Zeis’ strategy is to try and mitigate the impact. If Washington can find a solution, he believes we then need to focus on recovery. His concern is that this is the new normal-budgeting one fiscall cliff after another. Zeis said that is bad news for everybody because it makes advanced planning nearly impossible. “The inability to plan in the long term. The inability to move forward with new programs or for new technologies that use military or commercial,” said Zeis.

Furloughs don’t take effect until mid-April, and the hope in Fairborn is that it can be resolved in the next couple of weeks. Bakery owner Joanne Little is trying to stay optimistic, but she hasn’t seen much evidence that Congress is ready to solve the budget dilemma.