BRAC growth

Military growth at Fort Bragg will spill into the 11-county region surrounding the base, according to a recently released impact study, but the growth also presents some new challenges.

Real estate agent Patricia Murrell has heard a lot of numbers associated with the Base Realignment and Closure Plan thanks to the population boon, new jobs and more associated with the expected growth at Fort Bragg. That’s good news for her.

"It's an exciting time to be in real estate because it's something I've always been interested in, and it's a basic need,” Murrell said.

But all that growth also comes at a price. For the school systems in the 11 counties surrounding the base, that price tag is about $276 million. Experts say that's what it will cost to build the nine new schools the area will need.

"We're not looking at it as a hardship,” said Greg West, a member of the Cumberland County School Board. “It’s not negative, but the federal government needs to step up, and as we just heard, the state needs to kick in some money as well because they're the ones that fund the teachers.

“But the counties are going to have to do something. It's the biggest expense for our county, but there's nothing more important that educating our children."

"We understand what exactly needs to be done to ensure that military families, when they arrive here at Fort Bragg, don't have to worry about the quality of the education or the type of education the kids are going to get while the military member is in Iraq,” added Paul Dordal, the executive director of the BRAC Regional Task Force.

Officials say it will take all the communities involved collaborating with state and federal officials to make those numbers work for them. A more complete and detailed version of the impact study will be released in May.

For the next few months, the task force will be working together with communities to develop a comprehensive regional growth plan.