Budget Forcing Closure of FCC Field Offices

In defense of a proposal to close or significantly reduce assets at some half of its Enforcement Bureau field offices, FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has told lawmakers the agency is strapped. Wheeler says closures will save money in the long run, but at what cost?

According to Leslie Stimson at RadioWorld, the FCC has been operating under essentially flat funding levels for the past six years.  Wheeler told congressional appropriations lawmakers this wee its operating costs keep go up. That’s led to the commission currently having some 1,700 full-time employees, down from the 20-year average of 1,877.

And the workload of those who are left is rising — something the radio industry is familiar with these last few years as we all “do more with less.”

But a big reason the FCC is asking for more money for FY2016 is it’s got too much expensive downtown real estate. The commission needs to move again because its lease at the Portals is expiring in 2017. Before moving in 1998, agency personnel were scattered among several buildings near 19th & M Streets in Northwest, Washington. Long-term, the move will allow the agency to save money. Current projections show $13 million in annual savings under a new lease and net savings of some $119 million over 15 years, according to Wheeler’s testimony.

But the move will cost the FCC some $51 million in the short-term and the money has to come from somewhere, he notes.

Closing around half of the Enforcement Bureau field offices and reducing the number of field agents by a similar amount is a hard choice that will also improve the funding situation, according to Wheeler, who characterized the offices in many cases as having a “one-manager-to-four-employee ratio and oversized rental facilities, which are draining our resources.”

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