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Monticello is home to Headquarters Company of the 106th Forward Support Battalion, which deployed to Iraq as a component of the 155th Brigade Combat Team in May.
"This thing is ready to be built," said Mayor Dave Nichols. "We've just needed the funding."
County and town officials have been seeking a new armory for at least a decade, Nichols said, and have been working with state officials and adjutant generals.
In addition to the county's purchase of the property, the town has run water and sewer to the site and approximately $1.5 million in state and federal grants have been spent to complete environmental and architectural plans.
The facility has been listed on the Department of the Army's Future Years Defense Plan (FYDP), but was removed from the list two years ago. A new list was planned for 2009 and Maj. Gen. William Freeman Jr. had promised to see it back on there, Nichols said. However, the Army decided not to issue a new list.
Nichols said Sen. Thad Cochran was instrumental in getting the readiness center placed on the appropriations bill when he learned the FYDP would not be released for 2009.
"Sen. Cochran knows how hard we've been working on this and was very sympathetic so he has worked tirelessly to get this done," Nichols said.
Other construction projects in the bill include $10 million for an aircraft maintenance administration facility at Columbus Air Force Base, $16.1 million to support a Combined Arms Collective Training Facility at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, and $9.8 million for an Air Force Reserve Aerial Port Squadron facility at Keesler AFB.
In addition to military construction projects, the legislation would fund Department of Veteran Affairs programs, including medical care, compensation, pension and education benefits.
The Senate bill provides $440 million for a VA Rural Health Initiative and an additional $50 million for a new Rural Clinic Initiative to establish additional community-based outpatient clinics in rural areas.
