The Colorado budget for 2010 will contain money for construction of a new Colorado National Guard armory near the Western Slope Veterans Cemetery in Grand Junction.
Gov. Bill Ritter’s proposal, which must be approved by the Legislature when it takes up the budget in next year’s session, also includes new armories in Alamosa and Windsor.
The National Guard last year announced the founding of Company C of the First Battalion of the 157th Infantry based in Grand Junction.
The light-infantry company was formed to replace the 143rd Signal Company, a unit that served for a year in Iraq and has since been disbanded.
Construction of the armories will depend on legislative approval of a measure allowing the use of the veterans trust fund for the project and the projects’ inclusion in the full state budget bill.
Ritter will seek $6.4 million in state funds for the projects. The federal government would provide more than $11 million.
The earliest the projects could begin is July 1, 2010.
The battalion and the armories are part of the Army’s “Grow the Force” initiative.
