LIMESTONE (AP) – The base closing commission voted Thursday not only to spare the Defense Finance Accounting Service center but to add up to 250 jobs, a major victory for Aroostook County.

The commission’s 7-0 vote calls for bringing the facility from 353 jobs to 600.

Sen. Susan Collins, who grew up 12 miles away in Caribou, watched the vote alongside Gov. John Baldacci and the rest of Maine’s congressional delegation at the Applied Technology Center, which, like the center, is housed at the former Loring Air Force Base.

“I was optimistic that we would prevail as far as convincing the commissioners not to close DFAS but this expansion is more than I could have hoped for,” she said. “I’m just thrilled about this decision. It’s great economic news for northern Maine.”

Workers whooped and cheered when the announcement was made, and several bottles of champagne were produced. Outside, motorists honked their horns.

All told, the Pentagon wanted to reduce its 26 accounting centers across the country to three large centers in Denver, Indianapolis and Columbus, Ohio. Limestone and a center in Rome, N.Y., were among 23 centers that would have been eliminated.

Commissioners said they took into account the severe economic impact of closing the centers at Limestone and Rome, home to the former Griffiss Air Force Base.

“We’ve got a better proposal. We’ve got a fairer proposal,” commissioner James Hill, a retired Army general, said before the vote.

In the end, the commission voted to retain Columbus and Indianapolis, along with Cleveland, Limestone and Rome. The Denver center will be closed.

“Even though we went through three months of a lot of anxiety, we came out on the other end in really good shape,” said Carl Flora, president and chief executive officer of the Loring Development Authority.

The vote was a relief for people in Maine and upstate New York who said closing their centers – created to offset the impact of the previous base closings – amounted to a sort of double jeopardy.

“We’re keeping faith with people of Maine,” said Lloyd “Fig” Newton, a retired Air Force general who visited the Limestone center. He praised Limestone’s efficiency and said the workers there had “proved their mettle.”

The commission’s decision came a day after it voted to close the Brunswick Naval Air Station but to spare the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The Portsmouth decision would spare 4,500 civilian jobs; the Brunswick decision would eliminate 4,800 military and civilian jobs.

The commission’s final report will be sent to President Bush, who can accept it or reject it, or return it to the commission for further evaluation. Congress could veto the plan but has not taken that step in four previous rounds of closures.

Maine officials had argued not only for keeping Limestone open but for adding jobs because its efficiency and low turnover rate.

The modern facility can easily accommodate up to 480 workers, and there would be room for up to 600 workers by eliminating some storage space, officials said.

Even though the center is relatively small, the jobs are important in an expansive county that has fewer than 76,000 residents.

The center, located at the former Loring hospital, handles the books and ledgers for domestic Air National Guard bases and active duty Air Force bases in Europe, said Larry Conrad, who oversees the operations.

The center has been one of the biggest success stories of efforts to redevelop the former Strategic Air Command base.

Besides the center, the Maine Military Authority, which overhauls military equipment, has grown to 540 workers. Sitel has 250 employees at a call center. A Job Corps center has about 144 faculty and 350 students.

All told, the Loring Development Authority has created 1,450 jobs, which offsets the 1,100 civilian jobs that were lost when the base closed.

AP-ES-08-25-05 1646EDT