One of the two leading economic pillars of the Manhattan area and Flint Hills Region is Fort Riley.
The region’s largest employer remains among the top employers in Kansas as well, according to the latest Fort Riley annual Economic Impact Summary.
In 2020, Fort Riley’s financial impact to the region rose to $1.8 billion, topping the eight-year record of $1.7 billion. Garrison Commander Colonel Will McKannay says this year’s report reflected great work of regional communities to hire and retain veterans.
“It’s my strong conviction that Fort Riley is an important part of the Flint Hills region and the state of Kansas as any other community. We are neighbors and partners, and I am proud to be part of this community,” he said.
The number of area veterans rose more than 700 above the population of fiscal year 2019, the second consecutive year the increase was around 3 percent. The total population of Fort Riley officials, including active duty, veterans, retirees and their families totaled over 67,000 in 2020.
Included in that economic impact — over $69 million in construction, including improvements to military housing. Garrison Commander Colonel Will McKannay, in a recent media round-table, says while COVID-19 slowed down some of the progress, construction has continued.
“We’ve been able to maintain those projects and we’re going to be even increasing our projects for 2021,” he said.
While that impact is good news for the region, a larger question remains over stagnant population and job growth in the Manhattan area over the past decade. Chamber of Commerce President Jason Smith says the Chamber has formed a task force to address why Manhattan is being outpaced by over 1 percent by like-sized university communities in the Midwest.
“Probably we’re going to find out that a lot of that has to do with the decrease in student population over the last 10 years and then also some decrease in the population at Fort Riley. Those are the things that we may or not be able to control,” he said. “However, that doesn’t change the fact that we need to be even more thoughtful about policies we put in place to be able to grow as a community.”
The full report can be found on the Fort Riley website.
