18th CPTS, CONS outwit Mother Nature during fiscal year close out

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Hailey Davis
  • 18th Wing Public Affairs
KADENA AIR BASE, Japan --  Members of the 18th Comptroller and Contracting Squadrons, along with resource advisors from across the base, successfully closed out the fiscal year budget despite Mother Nature's plans.

Staff from the 18th CONS and CPTS worked late Sept. 28 to close out as much as possible before Typhoon Jelewat hit on Sept. 29, said Maj. Calvin Hodgson, 18th CONS commander and 1st Lt. William Kiser, 18th CPTS Financial Analysis flight commander.

Each year, a soft close occurs on Sept. 20. By preparing for the soft close, contracting and comptroller personnel were able to close out 98 percent of the year's budget, leaving only 2 percent to be taken care of by Sept. 30.

"Instead of being done on the (Sept. 30), we were done on the (Sept. 20), for the most part," said Hodgson.

Overall 18th CPTS oversaw more than $560 million in accounting transactions, according to Kiser, with more than $300 million of those transactions being executed by 18th CONS.

In the last two months, the 18th CONS closed out approximately $60 million, Hodgson explained.

"It's an authorization to spend," said Hodgson regarding the annual budget appointed to sections of the Department of Defense. "You're authorized to spend up to a certain amount and if you haven't executed that entire authorization when the budget year closes, further authorization to spend will come in fiscal year 2013."

Once the soft close is over, comptroller and contracting personnel collect anything left over from unit budgets and use the collected budget for wing end-of-year priorities.

Some of this year's end-of-year priorities included quality of life contracts for new dorm furniture for selected dorms, carpet replacement and blackout curtains as well as reupholstering Chapel 1 pews and upgrading the chapel's sound system.

"It's not just financial management, it takes a lot of players to execute close out," said Kiser. "The folks I would like to recognize are the resource advisors, all the people that process the documents, and the approving officials. We ultimately get to coordinate (the close out), but they are the ones that do most of the work. They are the reason we have successful close outs."

Typhoon Jelewat pounded Okinawa Sept. 29 with winds greater than 130 mph and dumped an estimated 23 inches of heavy rainfall. Just days after the storm's passing, base officials estimated the cost of the storm's damage to be in the millions.