Relocations to Fort Meade step up

The long-awaited Base Realignment and Closure process has kicked off in Maryland, and already 7,000 military workers have started moving to the state.

Fort Meade in Anne Arundel County has boosted its employment base from 34,000 to 41,000 workers in the past year, reported the Washington Post earlier this week. But military officials say that's only a small segment of the thousands more expected to relocate to Fort Meade.

Employees at the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Media Activity agency will be packing up their moving boxes soon, expected to bring around 5,000 new workers to the base within the next few months. Buildings are being constructed to house the massive influx of employees, many of whom had a change of heart regarding their relocation to Maryland.

David Bullock, a BRAC executive with the DISA, told the paper that when the relocation plans were announced five years ago, only half of the agency's 3,500 civilian workers said they would relocate with their job. Today, roughly three-quarters are moving.

Those employees may have reconsidered moving to Maryland because the state's economy is better than most. A report by the Bureau of Economic Analysis revealed that Maryland is one of just two states, including Alaska, where personal incomes have returned to pre-recession levels when not also counting social security or unemployment benefits as income.
 

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