The Navy has a $9 billion problem. That’s the amount of money that will have to be cut from their FY ’13 Operations and Maintenance $49 billion budget with the Continuing Resolution and Sequestration. That was the bottom line given by Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Deputy Commander Garry Newton at a community meeting Thursday morning at the Southern Maryland Higher Education Center.

At the end of the one-hour session, St. Mary’s County Commissioner Francis “Jack” Russell (D) pleaded: “We are waiting for the hierarchy to let us know what is going on.” Newton admitted that one of the “To Be Determined” measures was civilian employee furloughs. And he said the Navy has no say in contractor employee decisions.

At a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Assistant secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said of Sequestration, “It is tragic because it’s collateral damage to political grid lock.” At the hearing the possibility of 22 days of furloughs for civil service employees was mentioned.

A NAVAIR worker at Pax River told the Bay Net that he was told of the possibility of a 20-percent reduction in pay to go along with a reduction in hours worked.

Furloughs would affect payrolls which would also affect income tax returns received by the state and county, hitting both budgets in the bottom line. There also would be a large ripple effect in the community, with businesses being affected by the reduction in the amount of money available to be spent, especially for discretionary items.

Russell followed up on a question from Joe Anderson, a former county commissioner and contractor employee. He asked, “When are you going to talk about the impact on the people who live here?” Newton did not answer the question, calling it more of a statement.

Commissioner Todd Morgan (R: 4th) said he was 99 percent sure that Sequestration is going to happen on March 1. “We have to accept that reality,” he added. Morgan said the local congressional delegation is worried about the effect on the community. Representatives of the delegation were in attendance at the briefing.

Adelle Pierce, of defense contractor AM Pierce & Associates, who introduced Newton, said “This is a political problem that requires a political solution.” She spoke to the audience of mostly defense industry representatives: “We fully understand the difficult problem you are dealing with.” She said the effect on the warfighter had to be the number one concern and asked the defense industry to collaborate with the Navy to work through the problem.

Newton said the Continuing Resolution froze spending at FY ’12 spending levels an