Year-end closeout a success: budget balanced, money spent

  • Published
  • By Polly Orcutt
  • 325th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
TYNDALL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Fiscal year 2009 ended with Tyndall's books balanced and every penny of the 325th Fighter Wing's $144 million annual budget spent to continue the mission of Air Dominance training.

The fiscal year officially ended Sept. 30, but Air Education and Training Command mandated a Sept. 23 closeout for its bases. The command rewarded the ones that successfully met this date with monetary awards.

"Thanks to the efforts of our team, the Sept. 23 closeout was a resounding success," said Maj. Ericka Farmer-Hill, 325th Comptroller Squadron commander. "Because of our team's effort, we received an additional $2 million."

In September, Tyndall recorded $47.9 million in expenditures. Some key items funded during the month were contract buydowns, repairs to alarm systems, Tyndall gate security and dorm furniture.

Contract buydowns in September cost $26.8 million, and went toward aircraft maintenance; supply, fuels and transportation; and custodial contracts. The buydowns will save the base from spending fiscal year 2010 money.

A $4.7 million expenditure will repair all alarm and fire systems on Tyndall, some of which are more than 20 years old.

Modifications to Tyndall's gate security will help ensure the base meets Anti-terrorism Force Protection measures and cost $4.8 million.

Dorm residents will also benefit from year end closeout funds, with a $585,000 purchase of dorm furniture.

"Our comptroller squadron does an outstanding job all year to ensure that Tyndall efficiently and effectively spends the money we are budgeted," said Brig. Gen. Darryl Roberson, 325th Fighter Wing commander. "Their efforts during fiscal year 2009 closeout demonstrate dedication to Team Tyndall and our mission of guaranteeing air dominance for America."

With the fiscal year ending at midnight Sept. 30, the 325th CPTS had the last round of funding recorded at about 10:30 p.m. All funds were obligated by midnight and the books were balanced by 1 a.m., said Major Farmer-Hill.

"However, there were weeks of late nights leading up to close-out where, most of the time, folks didn't leave until 9 p.m.," she said.

The Sept. 23 closeout gave the 325th CPTS time to clean up the books, solve unforeseen issues, and identify and spend additional dollars before the final Sept. 30 closeout. This reduced fallout and allowed for more effective and efficient use of base resources.

"However, the biggest challenge is that accounting documents are processed against our funding from all over the world," she said. "With each system update, we must verify every entry is correct to ensure we know how much funding we actually have and that our bottom line is not being affected by an erroneous entry. Additionally, waiting for the next round of funding to come is also a challenge especially when you don't know exactly how much. You just have to be prepared and the Tyndall Close-out team was fully prepared."

The team was comprised of members from the 325th Contracting Squadron, 325th Civil Engineering Squadron, unit resource advisors and the comptroller squadron.

With fiscal 2009 closed, the 325th CPTS is moving on to fiscal year 2010 but the new budget has not yet been signed by President Barack Obama. He has signed a continuing resolution authority that allows the Wing to continue to conduct its mission.

Even though the base doesn't have a final budget, units may spend at the rate they spent last year, said Major Farmer-Hill.

"Units should not spend more than they spent at this time last year, and there can be no new mission starts. Units should only spend funds for mission essential items," she said.