You may have read a recent Stars and Stripes letter to the editor discussing cutbacks of important Morale, Welfare and Recreation services. Let me start off by saying we couldn’t agree more with the reader about the vital role Services plays in building our military communities, boosting morale, and providing welfare and recreation for our military members, civilians, and their families. Wrapped into the letter, however, were misinformation and sensationalism on the extent and intent of the financial review of specific Services programs. Here are the facts:
We have 189 “businesses” across USAFE that provide services. Most of these “businesses” provide valuable services and make a profit in spite of drastically increased labor costs. Any profit these Services programs make gets plowed right back into services for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, civilians and their families! Fourteen of our 189 “businesses” have been identified for review due to high labor costs, low customer support or poor management. We are reviewing these specific activities to ensure that we use your money in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
These 14 “businesses” lost just over $1,000,000 during the first six months of Fiscal Year 2005 (1 October 2004-31 March 2005). Twelve of those 14 also lost money in Fiscal Year 2004. That’s money that comes straight from our people and their families. These 14 “businesses” were given the opportunity to provide plans to put their activities back on a solid financial footing but have been unable to accomplish that goal.
However, let me make it abundantly clear these cuts are not just about “the bottom line.” A significant number of our “businesses” will never make money because the customer base is too small to make a profit, particularly at our geographically separated units. In many cases we will absorb those losses, in order to retain necessary services. But where the services provided are not critical we must take logical action now or we’ll be forced to take catastrophic action later.
Let me address several of the specific issues raised in the letter to the editor.
There is no plan or proposal to close any USAFE youth centers. We have community and youth centers all over Europe that provide a tremendous service to our communities while remaining financially solvent, ensuring we can continue to provide these activities to our communities in the future.
Many of us have our favorite base eating establishments. Not all of them are profitable, and, therefore, take away resources from other Services facilities. For example, one pizza restaurant in the command lost $38,000 in the first six months of Fiscal Year 2005. This loss simply cannot be tolerated when there are more than 15 other eateries at this particular base.
Another comment in the letter suggested the value added tax program might be in jeopardy.
Quite the contrary – USAFE recently took the initiative to lower the costs of the forms for the vast majority of our population in order to make the program more accessible to our community at large.
The writer went on to sensationalize the issue by writing “Picture a military community without a community center, bowling center, Outdoor Rec, Youth Center…” To the contrary, I ask the reader to imagine a military community that not only provides these services but does so in a profitable manner or incurs minimal losses so money is generated to improve established services, facilities and equipment. It isn’t a question of how many bowling centers, community centers, or eateries a base has, the issue is, how many can the community afford to support well.
Thank you for this opportunity to clear the air. We stand committed in USAFE to providing quality services to our people and to insuring these services are managed effectively and efficiently – so that we ALL benefit!
Twitter
Facebook
News for the Ramstein, Kaiserslautern, Landstuhl & Baumholder military communities in Germany 
You may have read a recent Stars and Stripes letter to the editor discussing cutbacks of important Morale, Welfare and Recreation services. Let me start off by saying we couldn’t agree more with the reader about the vital role Services plays in building our military communities, boosting morale, and providing welfare and recreation for our military members, civilians, and their families. Wrapped into the letter, however, were misinformation and sensationalism on the extent and intent of the financial review of specific Services programs. Here are the facts:
We have 189 “businesses” across USAFE that provide services. Most of these “businesses” provide valuable services and make a profit in spite of drastically increased labor costs. Any profit these Services programs make gets plowed right back into services for our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, civilians and their families! Fourteen of our 189 “businesses” have been identified for review due to high labor costs, low customer support or poor management. We are reviewing these specific activities to ensure that we use your money in the most efficient and effective manner possible.
These 14 “businesses” lost just over $1,000,000 during the first six months of Fiscal Year 2005 (1 October 2004-31 March 2005). Twelve of those 14 also lost money in Fiscal Year 2004. That’s money that comes straight from our people and their families. These 14 “businesses” were given the opportunity to provide plans to put their activities back on a solid financial footing but have been unable to accomplish that goal.
However, let me make it abundantly clear these cuts are not just about “the bottom line.” A significant number of our “businesses” will never make money because the customer base is too small to make a profit, particularly at our geographically separated units. In many cases we will absorb those losses, in order to retain necessary services. But where the services provided are not critical we must take logical action now or we’ll be forced to take catastrophic action later.
Let me address several of the specific issues raised in the letter to the editor.
There is no plan or proposal to close any USAFE youth centers. We have community and youth centers all over Europe that provide a tremendous service to our communities while remaining financially solvent, ensuring we can continue to provide these activities to our communities in the future.
Many of us have our favorite base eating establishments. Not all of them are profitable, and, therefore, take away resources from other Services facilities. For example, one pizza restaurant in the command lost $38,000 in the first six months of Fiscal Year 2005. This loss simply cannot be tolerated when there are more than 15 other eateries at this particular base.
Another comment in the letter suggested the value added tax program might be in jeopardy.
Quite the contrary – USAFE recently took the initiative to lower the costs of the forms for the vast majority of our population in order to make the program more accessible to our community at large.
The writer went on to sensationalize the issue by writing “Picture a military community without a community center, bowling center, Outdoor Rec, Youth Center…” To the contrary, I ask the reader to imagine a military community that not only provides these services but does so in a profitable manner or incurs minimal losses so money is generated to improve established services, facilities and equipment. It isn’t a question of how many bowling centers, community centers, or eateries a base has, the issue is, how many can the community afford to support well.
Thank you for this opportunity to clear the air. We stand committed in USAFE to providing quality services to our people and to insuring these services are managed effectively and efficiently – so that we ALL benefit!