Fort McCoy’s economic impact exceeds $1.38 billion
FORT MCCOY, Wis. (WLAX/WEUX) – Fort McCoy’s total economic impact for fiscal year (FY) 2023 was an estimated $1.38 billion, Fort McCoy Garrison officials announced. Workforce payroll, operating costs, and other expenditures totaled more than $346 million for FY 2023. A total of 2,113 personnel worked at Fort McCoy in FY 2023 — 1,279 civilians, 411 military, and 499 contract employees. Approximately 69 percent of the workforce lives within Monroe County. The total FY 2023 workforce payroll for civilian and military personnel was $190.5 million.
FY 2023 operating costs of $346 million included utilities, physical plant maintenance, repair and improvements, new construction projects, purchases of supplies and services, as well as salaries for civilian contract personnel working at Fort McCoy. Other expenditures accounted for $22.5 million and covered $435,850 in payments to local governments (including land permit agreements, school district impact aid, etc.) as well as $22.1 million in discretionary spending in local communities by service members training and residing at Fort McCoy. Other factors of economic impact for the fiscal year included more than $58 million in military construction on post.
The impact data was compiled by Fort McCoy’s Plans, Analysis and Integration Office. Fort McCoy also supported training for 86,090 troops in FY 2023, which ran from Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023. The training population included reserve- and active-component personnel from throughout the military. The installation saw an increase of more than 8,600 troops training on post in FY 2023 from the 77,411 troops who trained at Fort McCoy in FY 2022.
Larry Sharp, chief of the Fort McCoy Directorate of Plans, Training, Mobilization and Security (DPTMS) Training Coordination Branch, said the training numbers include Army Reserve Soldiers; National Guard service members; and active-duty troops from not just the Army but also other services, such as the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. Training statistics reflect many types of training opportunities that take place at the installation by active- and reserve-component forces and other governmental agencies, according to DPTMS. During fiscal year 2023, training included battle-drill (weekend) training; annual training; mobilization; institutional training; and numerous exercises, including an Exportable Combat Training Capability exercise, Combat Support Training Exercise, Global Medic, Spartan Warrior III military police exercise, and numerous other training events — all also contributing to local economic impact as well.
When looking back over the last five years, Fort McCoy’s economic impact has continuously been $1 billion or higher every year to local economies. In FY 2019 it was $1.18 billion, all the way to FY 2023’s $1.38 billion. In July 2023, Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger spoke about the importance of the installation’s economic impact to the 17th Wisconsin Government Opportunities Business Conference that took place on post.
Messenger described how the installation’s vast training space and facilities attract training opportunities for many units to come to the post, which also affects economic impact. He also mentioned new construction, “There’s 48,000 training acres and 3,000 cantonment acres,” Messenger said. “The importance of that means we put a lot of money into this thing. … That’s hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts. That’s hundreds of millions of dollars in new construction. It’s hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll that we have here. And this is a driver of the economy. … It’s because of the integration that we have in the local community. And mainly when I say ‘local,’ I mean, this part of the region.”
And just two years ago, Stephen Sullivan, the Chief Financial Officer and Director for Resources, Installations, and Materiel for the Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve, visited Fort McCoy and said the post should continue to be a focus for the future for Reserve training and more, “I think Fort McCoy is going to continue to be a key piece of the U.S. Army Reserve’s infrastructure that’s necessary to train and mobilize our forces,” Sullivan said in a 2022 news article. “And as I mentioned before, there’s a lot of overall pressure on (the) availability of funding and a lot of competing priorities. So, when I talk about people, modernization, and readiness, it’s always about how do we make sure that we fund all of these things appropriately.
“What I appreciate is like when I talked to the (Fort McCoy) staff and got a sense of how they’re being innovative, how they’re maximizing the use of training areas and finding places where you can do different types of training using the same training areas,” Sullivan said.
Fort McCoy’s history also shows that from 1990 to the present day, new construction projects have served to modernize the post’s infrastructure, facilities, and training areas. “The hundreds of millions of dollars invested in the post have benefited Fort McCoy as well the local economy, with the majority of the new construction contracts having been awarded to regional firms,” the history states in the 2023-24 Fort McCoy Guide. “Today, Fort McCoy’s primary mission is to support the readiness of the force by serving as a training center, mobilization force generation installation, and strategic support area. The installation has served in a continuing capacity as an Army power-projection site by processing and preparing military personnel for duty in overseas contingency operations.”
Additionally, in the Fort McCoy Executive Summary published annually by the installation it also directly addresses the fort’s growth and support via economic impact. “Throughout the last decade, Fort McCoy experienced unprecedented facility modernization, training area development and expansion, increased training and customer support capability, and improved quality-of-life opportunities,” the summary states. “From unmanned aerial vehicles to urban training facilities, to live-fire ranges and virtual-training environments, Fort McCoy is prepared to meet the training needs of the Army in the 21st century.”
A gross multiplier index (GMI) of 4.0 was used to determine the overall effect of the expenditures in the local economy. The GMI measures the number of times a dollar turns over within a region and was developed by the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Fort McCoy was established in 1909 and its motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services for 35 of 38 years since 1984. Learn more about Fort McCoy online, on the Fort McCoy Facebook page and X (formerly Twitter).
Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin. Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
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