The city of Twentynine Palms and its surrounding area, known as the Morongo Basin, sits on the western edge of the Mojave Desert, tucked in between the Joshua Tree National Park and the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Base, the largest live-fire military base in the world.
These days while the majority of Marines from the base are in the Middle East fighting on the front lines in the current war with Iraq, the community is trying to keep its economy out of the red. It is facing a triple slam of a nationwide economic downturn, a record $35 billion state budget shortfall, and the revenue losses to local businesses when thousands of Marines and many of their families leave the community at once.
Adding further to the economic impact is that Twentynine Palms and its neighbor town of Yucca Valley are relatively isolated communities with populations of less than 30,000. Each economic hit reverberates down to every resident, and there are few avenues — if any — to absorb the financial losses, such as alternative funding sources that are available in large cosmopolitan areas.
In April the K-mart store in Yucca Valley will close. It is one of only two major retail outlets in the Morongo Basin. When it closes its door the community will have to absorb the loss of 100 jobs as well as the loss in sales tax revenue, the largest source of State revenue for Yucca Valley.
The second hit has been the State’s $35 billion budget shortfall that may be balanced, in part, on the backs of city and county coffers. Much of the State budget is locked into non-negotiable items, such as the 40% that is guaranteed through Proposition 98 to school districts. Other expenses that the State cannot cut include repaying bonds and federally mandated programs such as Medi-Cal health insurance and welfare.
Twentynine Palms City Manager Mike Swigart describes the state as a collection agency. Swigart is concerned that the need to balance the state budget despite an enormous deficit will lead the state to keep more of the tax revenues that currently go to fund local governments. The local governments get their funds primarily from property tax, sales tax and vehicle license fees.
A dozen years ago, during the Gulf War not only did the Marines deploy but more than 4,000 of their families left the area temporarily to return to their home communities.
While local businesses are prepared for another extended dry spell, there is hope that a new family support program, known as Operation Enduring Families, will not only ease the emotional and economic hardship experienced by the families of Marines, but will also keep them in the community.