OHIO — The United States government is hours away from shutting down.
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“Time is running out and the betting in Washington is that there will be a shutdown,” Michael Gessel, Dayton Development Coalition, VP of Federal Government Programs, said.
News Center 7’s John Bedell talked to Gessel about how a shutdown could impact our region.
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“The effect on Dayton all depends on how long it lasts and, in particular, whether it lasts over a pay period or not,” Gessel said.
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Here in the Miami Valley, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the driving force behind the local economy.
As reported on News Center 7 at 6:00, it’s the largest single-site employer in the State of Ohio.
Gessel said on the base itself, there are about 38,000 employees.
And in the event of a shutdown, about a quarter of Department of Defense workers at Wright-Patt and nationwide will continue working and receive pay.
But the rest will be furloughed. That means they’ll be sent home from work and won’t be paid.
“If the shutdown lasts until a pay period comes and we have to skip a pay period, then it starts looking really bad for the Dayton region because we’ll see a large amount of money that will not go into the community as expected. Of course, civilian employees and military employees will be made whole at the end of the shutdown, but that really doesn’t help when you have a mortgage to pay, when you have grocery bills to pay and you have childcare to pay. You need that money,” Gessel said.
News Center 7’s John Bedell also reached out to base officials for comment on Tuesday, but he has not heard back.
We will continue to follow this story.
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