The 1,000-page budget that was recently approved by Congress and signed into law by the President will have a dramatic positive impact on the Baltimore and Washington region. Several hundred pages into the bill, there is a section dealing with horizontal construction for military bases, including those in Northern Virginia and Maryland. Of particular interest, is the fact that Ft. Meade has a $750 million budget – or, three-quarters of a billion dollars – for horizontal construction in the foreseeable future. Ft. Meade, Maryland received, by far, the largest construction budget of any military base in the continental United States.
The trickle-down impact of that amount of money could be two or three times, or more, to the local economy. Additionally, military bases in Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. will also experience federal funding which, once again, will trickle down to the local economy.
Ultimately, the Federal Government is also planning another big base realignment and closure scenario which, in all likelihood, will also have a positive impact on the local economy. We should never lose track of the fact that Maryland and Northern Virginia’s proximity to the Capital of the greatest and most powerful country in the world is good for our local economy. There are a plethora of communities throughout the continental United States that are clearly envious of our location to Washington, D.C. and the economic impact that results from that location.