The National Guard facilities within the State of Utah serve many different military and community oriented functions. They primarily serve as a training and logistical support location for National Guard units and support State and federal mission readiness. They also serve the communities with protective and responsive service and training functions; local, state and federal disaster command center functions; as well as troop family readiness assistance centers during times of deployment.
The Utah Army National Guard has a total of 454 facilities totaling 2,652,178 square feet and 23,228 acres of training area located in 23 communities strategically placed throughout the state. These facilities include armories, maintenance shops, warehouses and other training and support facilities. The Utah Air National Guard installation located on the east quadrant of the Salt Lake International Airport includes 53 buildings incorporating 135 acres.
During the 2015 General Session, the Legislature appropriated for Fiscal Year 2016, $51,293,800 from all sources for Operations and Maintenance. This is a 23.9 percent reduction from Fiscal Year 2015 revised estimated amounts from all sources. The total includes $4,523,000 from the General/Education Funds, an increase of 11.2 percent from revised Fiscal Year 2015 estimates.
In addition to statewide compensation and internal service fund cost increases, the following appropriation adjustments were made during the 2015 General Session:
The state bears a portion of the costs of National Guard facilities, depending on the type and ownership of the facility. Maintenance, logistical, and training facilities are 100 percent federally supported. Armories (aka Readiness Centers), where UNG units reside, have a state share of construction and repairs and the state pays utilities. With few exceptions, all UNG facilities are state owned and the state bears the cost of risk insurance.
The National Guard has been proactive in acquiring new facilities and upgrading older facilities to meet the future mission needs of the National Guard. During FY 2013 the National Guard began construction on the second phase of the $26 million TASS complex and the $16 million Bachelor Enlisted Quarters. In 2015, the National Guard will begin emplacing infrastructure for the $37 million, federally funded Special Forces armory complex at Camp Williams, expected to begin in 2017.
The Utah Army National Guard continues to make energy and natural resource management one of its top priorities to reduce energy consumption and meet the ever increasing cost of electricity and natural gas. In 2013, the National Guard began a large solar power project in Draper.
COBI contains unaudited data as presented to the Legislature by state agencies at the time of publication. For audited financial data see the State of Utah's Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports.