VENTURA : City Agrees to Back Local Military Bases

The city of Ventura on Monday night became the first in Ventura County to commit money to keeping Point Mugu and Port Hueneme naval bases running, pledging $19,930 to a community task force.

Task force members urged the city council to contribute money immediately toward the efforts, saying other communities around the country have already poured millions into keeping their bases from being shut down.

“We’ve already suffered severely from the defense cutbacks,” Mayor Tom Buford said.

The City Council was approached for funds by a local task force organized to lobby the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission. Although the commission will not release its list of base closures until early next year, the task force has begun early on the theory that the best time to save a military base is before it is officially targeted for closure.

The BRAC ’95 Task Force has already received $10,000 and free office space from the Ventura County Board of Supervisors.

The task force will also approach Camarillo and Oxnard this week.

The group is seeking about $350,000 from local governments and agencies to support their efforts. They are hoping to get about $150,000 from Ventura County and city governments, $50,000 from companies with government contracts, $50,000 in donations from federal employees and $100,000 from the Ventura County business community at large.