Defense Department officials have no official plans to deal with half-a-trillion dollars in pending automatic budget cuts that the department’s chief has described a “meat ax” and a “disaster.”“We haven’t received the detailed guidance … that would be necessary to begin planning for sequestration,” said Lt. Col. Elizabeth Robbins, a Pentagon spokeswoman.“You need guidance to do these things.”The lack of planning comes as economists voice growing concerns about the effects of “sequestration,” a term for $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts over the next decade to federal discretionary spending on programs including military and education. The failure of a Congressional supercommittee to trim the federal deficit in late 2011 triggered the “sequestered” cuts, which take effect on Jan. 2.The Defense Department would shoulder about half that fiscal burden. In a region that owes more than a third of its economy to the military, those effects could be devastating, economists say.Up to $350 million in Defense Department spending would stop flowing into the region in 2013, said Fred Crowley, an economist with the Southern Colorado Economic Forum.Those losses double when accounting for secondary revenue created by people living in the region, such as real estate spending.“We had a huge run-up that really drove our economy for a couple of years very nicely but now we’re looking at ‘Gee, we might lose some of that’,” Crowley said. “What drove us up could drive us down.”Tom Binnings, an economist with Summit Economics, suggested last week that the cuts’ effects would take longer to set in — beginning with an initial drop of $175 million in 2013 before climbing to a similar level in following years.If combined with the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, economists say the government would head over a “fiscal cliff” in early 2013 — a recession would ensue, the economists said.“It’s really an issue of timing,” Binnings said.The lack of planning represents a case of political gamesmanship, said Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.“Because it’s such a huge problem, everyone is hoping and praying that it never comes to pass,” Lamborn said. “Particularly, I think this administration doesn’t want to be up front with the American people on how bad it could be. And so the Pentagon is picking up on that and is likewise being reluctant to talk completely freely about it.”But despite bemoaning sequestration’s costs, Lamborn voiced confidence that Congress would find other budget cuts or delay the “sequestered” cuts. Other lawmakers and defense industry officials have shared his cautious optimism.Last week, details emerged of a bipartisan three-step plan brewing in the Senate to avert the automatic defense cuts, as well as the “fiscal cliff,” while cutting $4 trillion from the deficit, the New York Times reported. A spokeswoman for Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., confirmed he is among the senators working on the plan.Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., has called for fellow lawmakers to act on cuts similar to those recommended by the Simpson-Bowles Commission, a bipartisan effort to cut the deficit.Congress, though, is in recess until after the election — likely leaving the issue to be settled in a lame-duck session.For now, only a few, vague details are certain in the wake of “sequestered” cuts.Paychecks to troops wouldn’t stop, Robbins said.Defense Department contracts awarded would be paid and completed, she said. These would likely include the first round of nearly $200 million in construction projects at Fort Carson for its combat aviation brigade.But new contracts — such as the brigade’s maintenance hangars scheduled to be built after Oct. 1, 2013 — could be put on hold. Options for extra years of service in existing contracts could be dropped, she said.Civilian employees at bases also could face furloughs, while civilian positions open on Jan. 2 could go unfilled during a possible hiring freeze, Robbins said.Defense Department cuts could trickle down to school districts dependent on a unique — though at times lucrative — funding that is meant to offset lost property tax revenue for districts near military installations.About $1.5 million was left out of Fountain-Fort Carson School District 8’s budget this school year in anticipation of the sequester cutting 10-percent of the district’s military-related funding, said Joanne Vergunst, a district assistant superintendent. Reserve funds could be tapped in Academy School District 20 should they face $260,000 to $300,000 in similar sequester-related cuts this year, said Tom Gregory, the district’s chief financial officer.School districts across the nation would begin feeling cutbacks to other federal funding, including special-education funding, in next school year’s budget, Vergunst said.Other details will have to wait until Defense Secretary Leon Panetta receives advice from the Office of Management and Budget, Robbins said.The office has issued two letters regarding sequestration — one promising future guidance to department heads and another pledging coverage of defense contractors’ legal costs if layoffs are required.The layoff letter spurred defense contractor Lockheed Martin to announce it wouldn’t issue layoff notices on Nov. 1 as it originally planned. Companies usually must issue notices 60 days before mass layoffs or face legal bills, which the Pentagon now would cover.Not everyone is eyeing layoffs in the wake of defense cuts.Braxton Technologies, which employs about 70 people in Colorado Springs, has been asked in the last two months to submit a handful of “statement of capabilities” to the Defense Department — contractor speak for job proposals laying out plans for how one company could perform existing duties at cheaper rates, said Ken O’Neil, the company’s president.Normally, the company averages one such request a month.“I would say any smart commander is doing some contingency planning right now,” O’Neil said.—Contact Jakob Rodgers:476-1654Twitter @jakobrodgersFacebook Jakob Rodgers

A soldier returns to his Bradley Armored Fighting Vehicle Tuesday, June 5, 2012, while preparing for a training exercise the next morning with the 1st Brigade’s 1st Squadron of the 66th Armored Regiment down range at Fort Carson. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) Photo by CHRISTIAN MURDOCK, THE GAZETTE

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