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Budget negotiators have agreed to pony up – for one last year—$7.5 million to help Virginia Beach buy properties around Oceana Air Station.

The money, matched by Virginia Beach, has formed a $15 million state and local commitment to acquire private properties near Oceana and thwart a 2005 federal recommendation to close the jet base because of surrounding over development.

Legislators took aim at the program this winter, seeking savings during excruciatingly tough financial times. They were concerned that Virginia Beach still has not drawn down about $4 million of the state money appropriated last year.

Virginia Beach officials say the cash is still needed and will be spent. Each month, the city receives nearly $1.5 million in new requests to buy real estate from property owners around Oceana.

The Senate passed a two-year budget last month that eliminated state funding for the program.  Under the House biennial-spending plan, Virginia would contribute $7.5 million the first year and nothing the second. Budget negotiators have informally agreed to the House plan, according to three lawmakers participating in the talks.

Gov. Bob McDonnell, who represented Virginia Beach for 14 years in the House of Delegates, urged lawmakers to fund the program for two more years. But it’s apparent Virginia Beach will have to make its case again next winter before an increasingly skeptical General Assembly.

After long allowing development around Oceana, Virginia Beach in recent years has been trying to keep the Navy happy. The air base provides 12,000 jobs and pours about $1 billion a year into the local economy.

 

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