By Dewey Terrill

JC Post

Fort RIley is one of the topics on the Regional Leaders Retreat agenda scheduled this Friday and Saturday.

During a JC Now program visit on 107.9 FM and 1420 KJCK, Junction City Manager Allen Dinkel noted said Fort Riley is important to all three counties. ( Geary, Riley and Pottawatomie ). “Maybe more us than the rest. This week right now there are a lot of deployments starting to happen.”

Dinkel added quite a few Soldiers are leaving, and it’s always a concern to the community. “You’re going to have Soldiers being deployed, what’s that going to do the local economy, what will it do to our sales tax numbers, so it’s always important to know what the Army is going to do and specifically what Fort Riley is going to do.” Dinkel noted that Major General John Kolasheski will be at the retreat to provide an update on what is occurring so the region is informed.

On sales tax numbers Dinkel felt Junction City would be fine with sales tax revenue up in 2018, well ahead of the budget. “So I think we’ll get through it budget-wise. Hopefully they’re going bring some other stuff to Fort Riley, other training this year that will offset it some and hopefully we won’t feel as major impact.”

The Chambers of Commerce in Junction City, Manhattan and Wamego host the retreat. It is scheduled at the Embassy Suites – Olathe Hotel & Conference Center in Olathe.