WISCONSIN RAPIDS, Wis. (WSAU) – Wisconsin Rapids could soon be seeing a new National Guard armory as work continues to secure funding.
National Guard captain Joy Staub says the current facilities on sight for the guard are just not adequate to serve a modern military. “It only provides 21 percent of the space that we need. It was not designed to fit military functions today.” The current field maintenance shop is inadequate, and the whole facility cannot properly fit or house the trucks currently in use by the troops that are housed in Rapids.
In a press release in March, Senator Julie Lassa said $64 million has been budgeted under the current state capital improvement budget to pay for the new project. $13 million of that would come from state taxpayers and another $28 million from federal funding. Staub says that funding has been approved by the governor. The request now goes to the State Building Commission for final approval.
If approved, work on the project is expected to start some time in March of 2012.
