Pepperoni, cheese or meat lovers are words Slice Pizza shop owner Jack Caramello is used to hearing.
But there’s a new word being thrown around his pizza shop that sits just down the street from MacDill Air Force base: the sequester.
The sequester is affecting a lot of businesses in the Bay area including MacDill Air Force base.
The budget cuts will force furloughs, cutting some salaries by 20 percent. It’s even caused the base to cancel its annual air fest, and people with businesses near the base are feeling it too.
“I have heard about the furlough. I’ve been asking a lot of my contractors that are regulars, about is it going to affect them or not. Some say it is, some say it isn’t,” Caramello said.
Caramello said 90 percent of his customers are from MacDill.
“I think between the pay cut and not being here one day a week, is going to affect the local area for lunch for sure,” he said.
And with the recent announcement of the air fest cancellation, that’s going to hurt too.
“I’m angry. I mean there’s so many other ways to cut,” said Caramello.
There is one nearby business manager who isn’t angry. At least not about the air fest being canceled.
“People are going to the air show or coming from the air show and they don’t actually stop here. Without the air show they do take the time and they stop., said Tappers Pub manager, Steve Snead.
Snead says he’s worked at the Tappers Pub for nearly a decade and feels for the people affected by the cuts. But he says there’s not much that will keep them from stopping in for some of their famous dishes.
“There’s going to be a cut to their salary but that doesn’t mean they’re not going to eat.
People are expected to start feeling the effects of the cuts in April. the people opposed to the cuts are hoping for a miracle before then.