AURORA | For the ninth consecutive year, Buckley Air Force Base pumped more than $1 billion into the local economy, the base’s commander said Wednesday.
During the annual State of the Base speech Wednesday, Col. Dan Dant said the base ‘accounted for $1,025,611,274 in economic impacts last year, a figure that includes the salaries paid to military personell at the base, service contracts and other spending.
Officials have speculated in recent years that as the base fills up and construction there slows, the economic impact could dip below $1 billion, but that has not yet been the case.
Dant said last year was a particularly trying one for the base as two enlisted men stationed at Buckley, John Larimer and Jesse Childress, were killed in the July 20 theater shootings.
But, Dant said, he was consistently impressed with how the community rallied after the shootings, including efforts by the Aurora Chamber to help Larimer’s friends fly from Colorado to Illinois for his funeral.
“That, my friends, is a community in action,” he said.